Kisses
by DownToTheSea
Summary: A collection of Teslen kisses throughout the years.
1. Air Gap

**A/N: Written for the prompt "Tipsy kiss." Set directly post-Sleepers.**

* * *

Nikola really hated being a human.

All of the shiny new superpowers in the world couldn't make up for the fact that he got through barely two glasses of premier cru with Helen before his head started spinning. Apparently over a hundred years had turned him into something of a lightweight.

Noticing that he was getting a little tipsy (giggling loudly over the metal tray he kept moving around may have been a clue), Helen had shut down their little sorrow-drowning + magnetism party, with some reluctance; he suspected that after days of struggling to find a way to revamp him, she had needed a drink or several almost as badly as he had.

She had offered to walk him back to his room, eyeing him in a concerned way as if she were afraid he was going to fall off a balcony or something. Ridiculous. It might have been a hundred years, but he could still –

Nikola listed to the left and nearly ran right into a small table with a vase on top, promptly giving it a death glare. Who the hell put vases in the middle of a hallway for unsuspecting, totally blameless ex-vampires to stumble into? It was the butler, he thought, his eyes narrowing. Anyone who binge-watched Operation Paranormal obviously had questionable clarity of thought.

He pushed himself off the wall to give himself a little momentum, but misjudged the angle and caught his foot on the thrice-accursed table with the vase, sending both of them crashing to the floor – the vase literally. Personally, Nikola didn't feel much better.

Nikola _really_ hated being a human. Only a few days before, he'd fallen off of a skyscraper and, sure, it had hurt (a lot), but it had taken him mere seconds to heal completely. Now, he took one little dive and his entire body felt like somebody had run him over with a car. Which, now that he thought about it, had also happened recently, and he didn't remember it being this uncomfortable.

He was still groaning when he heard footsteps in the hall behind him – oh good, one of the babes in the woods come to have a hearty laugh at his misfortune.

"Nikola!" Helen exclaimed, worry evident in her tone, and hurried over to him, taking his face in her hands.

Suddenly, Nikola felt much less uncomfortable. Any number of witty remarks presented themselves to him. "Hi," he said instead.

Helen smiled, relieved. "Hello."

Nikola grinned what was supposed to be a roguish smirk and ended up more of a soppy beam. "You're looking radiant tonight," he informed her, his voice slurring.

"I think I'm going to have to watch your wine intake for a while," Helen replied, and dropped her hands from his face to pull him back up to his feet.

"Aww, Helen…" Nikola swayed a little and Helen took his shoulders to steady him. He glanced down appreciatively. "Dearest Helen, would you really torture me so?"

Helen raised her eyebrows. "Dearest?" she mouthed, then shook her head, putting it aside. "Alright, Nikola. Come on. Time to go to bed."

"Why, Helen," Nikola said unsteadily. "What exactly are you implying?"

Helen shook her head again, smiling in that exasperated fashion he'd become rather used to. "I'm saying, you need to get some sleep. As it is you'll probably be a zombie tomorrow."

"At least I could still be some member of the living dead," he said dejectedly.

"Well, don't give up hope," Helen said, patting his shoulder. "We may yet find a way."

He was still very unsteady on his feet, and Helen re-positioned herself so that she had one hand grasping around his waist firmly and the other tightly holding his hand.

"You're just saying that to make me feel better," he accused, still finding it a little difficult to speak clearly.

"And if I were?" Helen raised a challenging eyebrow, but she squeezed his hand, thumb running along his fingers gently.

"Well," Nikola said, realizing he didn't have an answer for that, and looked down at their interlaced hands. "Well…I would, I would just have to say…"

There were perks to being able to get drunk, he realized. He would never have had the courage to do this otherwise.

Nikola brought his other hand around to lift Helen's up in both of his, and kissed it lightly, letting his lips linger just a bit before he lowered their hands, still holding onto her and stroking her wrist.

"Thank you," he said softly.

Helen's eyes were warm, and her smile was not now her familiar exasperated variety, but a rarer, even lovelier tender one. She started to lean towards him, her hand turning in his to pull him to her. Nikola could feel all of the breath leaving his lungs as he closed the last short distance between them until their foreheads were just resting against each other, lips only inches apart, and Helen's earrings started floating towards Nikola as his new magnetic powers, already a little hard to control, went completely haywire.

Nikola's eyes closed, and he could feel Helen drop his hands and slide hers up his shoulders into his hair, pulling him ever closer until…

…until Nikola got hit by another wave of dizziness, and his eyes snapped open as he staggered to the side, nearly causing both of them to fall over.

Helen managed to keep a solid hold on him, though, and righted them both after his dizziness passed. She blinked and shook her head, as if to clear it and get back to reality. "Right," she said, suddenly businesslike. "Bed." Resuming her former position, she started walking them both up the corridor.

Nikola had never thought he would ever have reason to curse his beloved wine, but he wasn't on very good terms with it at the moment, and he spent the rest of the trip to his room turning over the last few minutes in his somewhat fuzzy mind.

Helen stopped at his door, opening it and then turning him around to face her. "Are you going to be alright?" she asked, and he wasn't so muddled that he failed to realize she wasn't just talking about him being slightly drunk.

He smiled a little bitterly. "I'll live," he said, trying not to think about that one too much.

Helen nodded, understanding. "If you need anything," she told him, pressing his hand again, "I'm right here."

Nikola didn't quite trust himself to answer that, so he just nodded back, dropping Helen's hand as he turned away from her.

Before he realized it, Helen had taken his shoulders again and was leaning in quickly to plant a brief but tender kiss on his cheek, and then she wrapped her arms around him, squeezing him tightly and kissing his cheek one more time before turning him and giving him a little push across the threshold.

"Get some sleep, Nikola," she said, an expression halfway between amusement and sad fondness dancing across her face, and she closed the door.

The metal tray just to the left of Nikola skittered across the room to hit the wall with a clatter.

* * *

 **A/N: I took a leaf from one of my favorite FMAB fics and gave all the chapters magnetic terms for names. I am not a very good scientist, though, so I apologize for any inaccuracies.**


	2. Pull Test

**A/N: Written for the prompt "'You nearly died' kiss." This is version 1 of this prompt, because it's one of my very favorite tropes of all time and will probably be showing up again. Set during/after Hollow Men/Pax Romana. Enjoy!**

* * *

Nikola's legs were tired.

That never used to happen, back when he was a vampire. Oh, his energy levels would flag, especially after he went without sleep for three or four days at a time in the lab. That electric chair of Edison's (bastard) wasn't the strangest place he had fallen asleep. But this dull, burning ache in his muscles, this was new, and extremely unpleasant.

Of course, it probably had something to do with the fact that he'd been pacing up and down the Sanctuary library for the last three hours and forty-seven minutes. Not that he was counting.

Damn John, anyway. Not only was Nikola missing out on the discovery of the _century_ (including some of his own brilliant works, which was, in his opinion, quite a concession), but now that John had run off with Adam, Nikola had no way to get to the entrance of Hollow Earth quickly. Which meant that, since Helen and her team were still out of contact, absolutely anything could be happening down there and Nikola would never know.

Nikola spun on his heel for yet another trip up and down the paneled floor, clenching his frustrated hands at his sides. Damn John. Who knew what that treacherous bastard Adam was planning, anyway? Nikola wouldn't call John trustworthy on a good day, but at least he could be (mostly) relied on to help Helen, albeit with perhaps a little more murder than she would have preferred. Adam, though, God only knew what _he_ was up to.

Pausing his circuit of the library by the floating holographic map of Hollow Earth, Nikola stared at it, as if he looked hard enough he could absorb John's ability and teleport there. But the entrance itself was many hours away, and once there he had no way of finding them in the depths of Hollow Earth itself. Then there was the minor problem that he had no extra shield to protect him from the anti-vampire defenses. And wasn't that a fun little joke of the universe? If he'd still had his abilities, he could have gotten there and found Helen comparatively quickly, but now, he had just enough useless source blood running through his veins to prevent him from even trying.

And then Helen had left him kinda-sorta-maybe in charge, somehow, and he was pretty sure her wrath if she found out he went merrily running off, leaving the Sanctuary almost entirely abandoned (except for the butler, but Nikola hadn't seen him in hours, and he had no idea where he'd gotten to) would be even worse than any anti-vampire defense systems.

The little blue lights representing the tunnels of Hollow Earth pulsed gently and twinkled at Nikola, taunting him, and he strode over and turned the holographic map off. "See how you like that," he said out loud, fully aware of how ridiculous it was for him to talk to a hologram in an empty room.

The map had been giving off a faint hum, which Nikola could easily distinguish even with his sub-standard human hearing, and now that it was off, the Sanctuary seemed even emptier than before.

Nikola decided that a raid of Helen's wine cellar was exactly what he needed right now – surely, when she returned, he could justify it as payment for his looking after the place while she was gone. Not that he'd ever really worried about explanations for stealing her wine before.

When he got there, though, he discovered he'd been beaten to the punch.

There was a clinking of bottles as Bigfoot poked his head out from behind the racks. "There something you need?"

"Since you ask, a '92 Lafite," Nikola said, frowning at his personal sanctuary being invaded. "What are you doing?"

"Cleaning."

"I can see that." Nikola gestured at the giant feather duster being waved in his face as proof. "Is there any particular reason _why_ you're cleaning? Here?"

A grunt. "Magnus has been complaining about all the dust down here."

"Is that so," Nikola murmured, rather pleased. _He_ had been complaining about the amount of dust in the cellar for quite some time, and Helen had mostly just rolled her eyes and told him it wouldn't bother him as much if he didn't spend so much time down there. Apparently, it hadn't been falling on deaf ears after all.

He sidled over to a rack and twirled his fingers in the air, darting them in to pull out a bottle. "Well, carry on," he said to Bigfoot over his shoulder as he left.

Since the wine cellar was denied to him, Nikola went back up to the lab to check the tracking beacon a few more times, just in case, and perhaps try to distract himself by working on one of his latest projects.

He stopped once he got to the doorway, wondering if Helen had been cloning her staff lately without telling him.

"What is it?" Bigfoot asked from where he stood by the computers, dusting.

"Uh," Nikola said. "What the hell? Weren't you just in the cellar?"

Another grunt. "I finished."

Nikola raised an eyebrow. "I see thoroughness is not your motto."

The butler gave him an affronted look. "I work fast."

"Clearly." Nikola walked over to the computers, still showing no signs of Helen's tracking signal reactivating. He sighed, casting a glance at the worktable, which was now being straightened and dusted until it was sparkling. Well, he probably couldn't have concentrated on anything anyway.

Helen's office had been mercifully spared from any cleaning rampages, and Nikola found himself there before he even realized where he was going. He dropped into her chair with a heavy exhale of breath, and opened the bottom drawer of her desk, where he had recently smuggled in a couple of wine glasses to surprise Helen with at some point.

Drawing one out, he uncorked the wine and poured himself a liberal glass, swirling it around contemplatively and settling back into Helen's chair before taking a sip. Ah, wonderful. Helen always did have excellent taste. In wine, anyway.

He'd gone through a pretty big chunk of the cellar while he was living at the Sanctuary these last few months. Helen had enjoyed pointing out that he'd have none left if he kept up at that rate, although since she'd found a way to restock after he'd depleted it last year, he was sure she would do so again after he left this time.

Nikola took another sip of wine. _Would_ he leave this time? Helen seemed happy to have him here, and even if his help on the holographic map wouldn't be required any longer, he was sure she could put him to good use somewhere else. Shoring up the criminally shoddy work from the rest of her staff, for example.

Still, he had his own projects to work on, his own goals, and they couldn't all be moved easily to the Sanctuary laboratory. He was pretty sure Helen didn't exactly support his plan to bring back the vampire race, for one thing.

Nikola stayed in Helen's office for a long time, his mind racing through almost every subject available to him except one, contemplating everything from recalibrating the stunners to how he was planning to regain his immortality, particularly under Helen's watchful eye to make sure he did so without his usual unethical means.

It was all moot, of course, if she didn't come back. He had carefully avoided thinking about it up until this point, but now it struck him like a ton of bricks.

That's what Adam had said, wasn't it? That she wasn't going to come back, and Nikola was hard pressed to think of a reason why he was wrong. There was nothing that couldn't go wrong on this mission. Even if their tracking signals had gone dead just because they were too far underground, any number of things could have happened since. Hell, they weren't really even sure if the citizens were friendly – for all he knows they could have shot Helen on sight.

Nikola swallowed, his fingers tightening on his wine glass as he set it stiffly down on Helen's desk.

Then they had thrown John and Adam into an already uncertain situation, very possibly making it worse, knowing those two, and Nikola in his blind worry and enthusiasm to see Hollow Earth had gone along with everything quite contentedly.

Even if, by some miracle, everything had went right, there was no guarantee that Helen would come back cured. Her radiation sickness had been more advanced than most of the Sanctuary realized. Nikola had seen it, though he had spent the majority of his time over the last few days locked away in the lab making Helen's vampire shield. Her hands would shake, or she would stumble just a little as she walked, and Nikola would be forcibly reminded every time that immortal she might be, but not invulnerable. Come to think of it, that was probably why he'd spent every possible second closeted in the laboratory.

Helen's death was not something Nikola was prepared to think about on any level. His own hands were shaking now, and he twisted them together on top of Helen's desk, the smooth wood surprisingly warm under his fingers. One of his only consolations, during his recent loathsome re-acquaintance with humanity, was the absolutely sure knowledge that she would survive him. The thought of a world without Helen…

Nikola raised his folded hands to his chin, leaning forward. As if that weren't bad enough, the thought of her dying while he just sat here, totally helpless, doing _nothing_ …

His hand slammed down onto the desk with more force than he thought he had left, the wine glass tilting worrisomely before he caught it with his other hand, bolting to his feet. To hell with this. Helen could stake him in the heart for leaving his post when she got back if she liked – the butler could go on a murderous rampage while he was gone if he wanted, or go try to polish the Eiffel Tower – he didn't care if he had to cross eight mountain ranges to get to her, he wasn't going to stand around impassively waiting for the only person left he really loved in the entire world to die.

Nikola waved his hand, using his magnetism to pull Helen's office door all the way open with a bang as he practically ran towards it. He had just made it to the threshold when the phone rang.

He skidded to a halt, fixing the phone with a glare. There went his dramatic exit. Sighing, he went back to the desk, wrenching the phone up to his ear.

"Call back later, I have to go find the woman I love."

The phone connection crackled with static, but no one was speaking, and Nikola was half a second away from slamming the phone down and retrying his exit.

"Nikola?" Helen's voice cut in and out, but it was definitely her, sounding amused and a little surprised.

Nikola wouldn't have given a damn if she'd greeted him with hysterical laughter. "Helen!" His vision wavered a little and he clutched the edge of the desk for support. "Helen, Helen, you're – you're alright." He forced his voice to steady and tried to dial back his desperation a notch, but he was pretty sure it wasn't working.

"I'm fine," Helen answered, downright laughing now. "I wasn't expecting you to answer. Are you in my office?"

"Yes," Nikola said, too relieved to dance around the question, drinking up the sound of Helen's voice like the very finest vintage that it was. "Your butler was invading my space."

"Ahhh," Helen said. "He stress cleans."

"Yes, that has become readily apparent. Are you alright?"

"Yes, Nikola." Helen still sounded like this was the most hilarious conversation she'd ever had, and Nikola belatedly realized 1) she had already told him she was fine, and 2) exactly how he had answered the phone.

"Uh," he said. "John and Adam went after you when your tracker went dead. Have you run into them?"

"We certainly have," Helen said grimly. "But that's a story for another time. I need you to arrange passage back to the Sanctuary for us, as we seem to have been stranded here."

An _interesting_ story for another time, apparently. "I take it John isn't with you."

"He is not. Here's what I need you to do…"

* * *

Nikola's legs were on fire. He had been pacing the entryway for the last three hours. He hadn't slept in…he really had lost count of those hours, which indicated something about how tired he was.

Helen's plane should have gotten in two hours ago. Factoring in potential delays, getting through the airport, drive time…Any minute now, Nikola told himself, pacing even faster.

Bigfoot had now apparently decided the staircase needed vacuuming, and for all that he was such a fast cleaner, it was taking him a suspiciously long time to finish.

There was a rattling at the doorknob, and Nikola stopped dead in his tracks, staring at the door. The next few seconds seemed to slow down almost as if he had his inhuman speed back, as the door opened and Helen stepped through with the relieved air of someone who hasn't been home in far too long.

She looked tired and a bit battered, but the bone-deep weariness of her sickness was gone, and her eyes sparkled when she looked at him. Nikola realized his mouth was open and he hastily closed it, barely paying attention to Henry, Will, and Kate all filing in after Helen or Bigfoot putting aside his vacuum to descend the stairs and greet them.

After glancing back to make sure the children were all accounted for and nodding at Bigfoot, Helen made her way toward Nikola, smiling at him. "Well, how did you like your taste of Sanctuary leadership?" she asked him, her tone teasing.

Nikola had thought that talking with Helen on the phone had dulled his intense relief a little, that he would be perfectly composed now that he knew she was alright and was expecting her. He even had a few sarcastic quips prepared for the occasion.

He was completely wrong.

"Helen," he said, his voice unsteady, dragging out her name because he loved feeling it rolling past his lips.

"Nikola." Helen's smile stretched even wider. She stepped closer and put a hand gently on his shoulder. "Thank you for looking after the Sanctuary."

Nikola looked down at Helen's hand as she dropped it, swallowing. He should say something gracious at this point; "It was my pleasure" was a good standard, although if he put his mind to it he was sure he could come up with something equally good that included a pun.

"Helen," he choked, and wrapped his arms around her, holding her close against him, nestling his face in her neck and rocking them back and forth, pressing kisses lightly to her neck and moving little by little up the side of her head.

Absorbed as he was with breathing Helen in, he could still feel it when Helen folded her arms around his waist. She said something, her voice muffled by his collar. It was his name again, he thought, and she hugged him back tightly.

Nikola kissed his way up to Helen's forehead, stroking her hair, and then he pulled back slightly; Helen contrarily snuggled closer to him.

"Are you alright?" he asked again, softly. "They cured you in Hollow Earth, then?"

Helen sighed. "They did. And it only took surgery on an abnormal the size of a ship." She must have felt his confusion, because she added, "it's a long story."

"And did John and Adam screw things up too badly?"

"That…might be even longer."

"But you're alright." Nikola didn't ask, because he had asked so many times already, but he had to say it one more time, just to convince himself. He ran his fingers through Helen's hair again.

No matter how tired his legs were, he would have very much liked to stay like this forever, though he was running out of questions. "Was Hollow Earth cool?"

He could feel Helen laughing against him. "Yes, Nikola, it was very cool. There were dragons, zeppelins, everything you could wish for."

"That's so unfair."

"I'll make it up to you," she promised. "By the way, dare I ask about your rather, uh, abrupt greeting on the phone? I hope that's not how you plan on answering all of my calls."

"Well. Uh, I was…it was a very…"

"Plotting to swoop to my rescue, were you?" Helen sounded entirely amused by the idea.

It did seem a little ridiculous now, though Nikola still felt that his motives were about as noble as he ever managed. "I thought – I thought you…" Nikola trailed off. Speechless wasn't a word he frequently had to use, but words were eluding him just now. He settled for sighing Helen's name again, burying his face in her hair and kissing her once more.

"I know what you thought, Nikola," Helen said, pulling a little back from him, solemn now. "And I will say it was a closer call than I would have liked a few times. But we all made it through safely, there's no need to dwell on what might have happened."

Nikola knew that she was right, of course. But that didn't mean he didn't want to keep holding her in his arms for the next several years.

Helen took his face in her hands. "I'm glad to be home, Nikola," she said, still serious but with a small smile pulling at her mouth, and she kissed him lightly.

She was so close to him, and she was alive and safe and immortal again, and Nikola leaned forward to kiss her again, relishing every last second of her lips against his, and gave a tiny kiss to just her upper lip as he pulled away, cradling Helen's head in his hands and stroking her temples with his thumbs.

"Um, if you guys are done…" Will said, appearing at their side.

Nikola rolled his eyes, dropping his hands to Helen's shoulders. "Well, we are now."

Helen chuckled and turned slightly to Will, one of her hands coming up to hold Nikola's. "What is it, Will?"

"Were you wanting to check us all over, just to make sure that…zombie thing didn't have any side effects?"

"Ah, yes, of course. I'll do it in the infirmary."

Helen kept ahold of Nikola's hand as they started walking, and he wound his other arm around her shoulders.

"Zombie thing?" he echoed. "No, wait, let me guess…it's a long story."

"Absolutely correct. Oh, Nikola, there's something I have to tell you."

Nikola's breath caught as Helen stroked the back of his hand with her thumb. "Yes?"

She smiled sunnily at him. "Your vampire shield needs work."

* * *

 **A/N: My timeline on how long Tesla stays at the Sanctuary may be a bit shaky, but I can't remember them ever quite telling us concretely - in my head he lived there for a few months over the course of just before Animus through Breach.**


	3. Permanent Magnets: Part 1

**A/N: The first in a little three-part series of connected ficlets, taking place a couple of years post-canon. This one is for the "Comfortable kiss" prompt.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 _"_ _Oh my God!"_

Helen, who had been deep into translating one of the Praxian texts they had recovered from the ruins of the city – fascinating research about their abnormals – looked over in alarm at Nikola, from whom the dramatic cry had just emanated. Loudly.

He was stretched out on the couch next to her, bits and pieces of one of her stunners scattered in a worrisomely haphazard way around him. The power core seemed to be missing, and Helen was quite sure it had fallen down the cushion, which she didn't plan on telling him until he'd cleaned up some of the mess.

Since it didn't appear as though he were going to make anything explode in the next few minutes (never a certainty with Nikola), Helen's answering tone was calm. "What is it, Nikola?"

Nikola looked at her and held up a coil. "This! Have you ever seen such shoddy work? My God…" He trailed off into frustrated mutters about irresponsible children, distracted by miniature werewolves…

Helen smirked a little behind the book. She'd known him for over a hundred years twice over, and she could tell exactly how fond he had grown of Henry, despite his disparaging act. "The stunners have worked perfectly fine for years, Nikola. I hardly think it's a life-or-death issue."

"It's only a matter of time before _something_ explodes," Nikola said cynically. "Look at this, Helen." He pushed about a quarter of the broken-down stunner on top of the page she was reading, blocking the Praxian figures.

Helen sighed. "I'm looking," she said.

"Isn't it horrible?"

"Yes, it's quite shocking." She pried his hand off of the book and went back to her reading. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see him shaking his head.

"I'm surprised at you, Helen, settling for this inferior tech."

"I've never had a problem with Henry's work," Helen pointed out.

"Ok, so maybe it's _probably_ not going to blow up in your face any time soon," Nikola admitted, gesturing with the components still in his hands. "But it's second-rate – not even close to what you should have. Small wonder, though, if he had to build it in that old lab of yours." His nose wrinkled.

Helen chuckled. "You're never going to let me live that down, are you?"

"Never," Nikola said, grinning. He shifted on the couch so he could lean comfortably back against her shoulder and began gathering the pieces back together. "Just watch, Helen. I'm going to turn this wreck into something extraordinary. I think I'll call it…the _super-stunner_."

"Oh, dear Lord."

* * *

Nikola kept up a running commentary detailing his work on the stunner for the next several hours, seeming quite unaffected by her veto of the name change. It was, to be honest, quite distracting, and Helen only got through half of the reading she would have, but she didn't really mind. For one thing, it was just as well she was on hand to approve everything he was doing; otherwise she probably would have ended up with a death ray in her stunner.

"Beam, Helen," Nikola corrected when she voiced this. "Death _beam_."

"Oh, excuse me." Helen raised her hands in sarcastic apology.

Apart from that, though, she had to admit she was enjoying just spending some time with him like this, quietly. Much of their acquaintance, it seemed, involved dodging through dark caverns, trying to save the world, avoid being killed horribly, or dealing with some other crisis. (Occasionally it was a combination of all of these.)

As much as Helen loved that part of their relationship, it was rather nice to sit here comfortably with him, employed on their projects. Helen had always enjoyed watching him work, his dexterous hands darting around as he still managed to keep up their usual repartee, as he was doing now.

Well, he _had_ been, anyway. Nikola hadn't said anything for a few minutes, presumably deep in thought over some sticking point in his work, or trying to come up with a name that she wouldn't immediately shut down.

Or not, she realized, glancing over at him after she'd finished a page. In actual fact, Nikola had fallen asleep, head resting on her shoulder. The stunner was still scattered about in pieces over his legs, which were stretched out and dangling just over the side of the couch.

Helen debated whether or not to wake him up; on one hand, if he slept through the night like this, he was going to complain about a crick in his neck all day tomorrow, even though they both knew full well it was impossible for him to be afflicted with such things. But on the other hand, Helen was fairly sure he hadn't slept for several days – he had the greatest tendency to get totally wrapped up in whatever it was that he was doing – and she was loath to disturb him. He looked so comfortable, too, snoring lightly against her shoulder. Sometime, when Helen hadn't been paying attention, she had wound an arm around him.

Even as she watched, he shifted and turned, more bits of stunner falling between the cushions as his legs curled up, and snuggled farther into her side, his mouth curving and dimpling his cheeks.

Nikola's smiles – his real ones, not his sardonic smirks – had always been contagious, and as she turned towards him Helen found herself smiling too. She bent over and kissed him lightly on the forehead before lifting her hand to stroke his face, brushing her thumb gently over his cheek. Sliding her fingers up, she started to card them through his hair and rested the side of her head against his.

The repeated motion was making her drift off herself when Nikola moved again, adjusting his position against her and now smirking deeply.

"Keep that up all night, I'm still not changing the name," he said, voice muffled by her shoulder. "But, you know, feel free to keep doing it."

Helen snorted. "Nikola," she chuckled, shaking her head. She bent over to kiss him one more time, lingering for just a second longer than necessary. Nikola craned up to prolong it, his eyes closing briefly, then fell back against her with a sigh.

"Maybe minor alterations."

"No prefixes," Helen said.

"You cut me to the heart." Despite his words, Nikola didn't seem too discouraged.

Helen began to stroke his hair again, and he leaned into her hand, turning his head and kissing her palm.

"Well, I'll come up with something brilliant, as I always do." He settled against her, sighing contentedly.

She snorted again. "Oh yes, you have a long and shining history of coming up with the _perfect_ names for your inventions."

"Mmm." Either he was drowsing, or he was choosing to ignore her. Knowing Nikola, either one was highly possible.

Even amongst the mechanical pieces and books lying around, it was so comfortable sitting there with Nikola that, a few minutes later, Helen was starting to nod off again herself. She looked back down at him, blinking tiredly. "If you sleep like this, you're never going to let me hear the end of it tomorrow," she told him.

Apparently to little avail, because Nikola _had_ fallen back asleep, breathing slow and deep as one of his hands found its way to rest on her knee.

Helen shook her head, another exasperated smile crossing her face. As she leaned against Nikola again and closed her eyes, her own hand covered his on top of her knee, lacing their fingers together.


	4. Permanent Magnets: Part 2

**A/N: The second part of the post-canon series, for the prompt "Laughing kiss."**

* * *

"I have something for you," Nikola announced as he Arrived in her office with a swish of his coat. Nikola, Helen had found over their long acquaintance, never did anything he couldn't dramatically capitalize at a later date. "If you'd like to fall passionately on my neck in gratitude, I'm available now."

Helen snorted behind the cup of tea she had just lifted to her lips. "You'll have to wait for that, I'm afraid." She waved the document in her other hand at him. "While I was in Egypt, I fell behind on Will's reports on that abnormal smuggling ring we've been keeping tabs on. I've been catching up on them."

"How dull," he replied, wrinkling his nose. He dropped into the chair across from her and looked around, Helen suspected, for the wine. "The reports, I mean – tracking a smuggling ring sounds amazing. Tell me, when are you planning on going after them, bursting in on their sordid operations with guns blazing?" He accompanied this with a wide, anticipatory grin, leaning forward to rest his elbows on her desk.

Helen set her cup down. "Not until I've gathered enough information. By, for example, reading these reports." She raised an eyebrow meaningfully at him.

"Ehhhh," he said, and slumped back. "My gift is better."

"Honestly, the fact that you didn't blow anything up while I was gone is enough for me," she said dryly.

"Your confidence is overwhelming," Nikola said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

"It must be your stellar track record." Helen matched his tone with a sweet smile.

"Hmm." Nikola got up and rounded the desk, sitting on the edge next to her. He idly toyed with a crystal paperweight. "You _may_ have a point. What can I say? Sometimes progress means an exploding lab or two."

"Kindly keep that philosophy away from your shiny new laboratory." Technically, it wasn't exactly new anymore, but both Helen's and Nikola's standards for what constituted "old" were naturally a little different than the norm.

Nikola put the paperweight down and started twirling his fingers over her desk instead. A couple of her pens started to bounce around the surface.

Helen rolled her eyes a little. Well, at least it was only pens this time.

"Ah, my wonderful new lab. I can never thank you enough for that, my dear Helen." Nikola leaned closer to murmur in Helen's ear. "Though I could do it again, if you'd like."

Even though she couldn't see his face, Helen could hear Nikola smirking as clearly as if she'd been looking right at him. "I may take you up on that offer…later."

Reverting to his former perch, Nikola groaned. "Aww, Helen…"

She laughed. "Are you going to be decorating my desk for the rest of the day, or don't you have anything to be working on in that shiny new lab?"

Nikola waved a hand. "Oh, oodles of things. But I had to drop off your gift first."

"Ah, yes," Helen said, her lips twitching.

"It's pretty amazing," he told her.

"I've no doubt."

There was a pause.

"Well?" Helen prompted.

He leaned over again, touching her cheek and lightly running his finger along it. "You're looking at him."

"Dear Lord," Helen exhaled, rolling her eyes.

Nikola started to laugh, his hand falling away from her face as he rocked on her desk. The pens he had been messing with earlier skittered around, and she caught one firmly, poking him with it lightly in the ribs.

"Alright, off with you. You clearly have better things to be doing and I really do have to work."

"Oh, Helen, you don't really think I'm that cheap, do you?" Nikola clutched his heart, the melodramatic action slightly ruined by the fact that he was still laughing. "You wound me."

"Hmm. I don't think you want me answering that."

"I demand proof."

"Your idea of the perfect birthday gift was to fix my computer system… _after_ you'd fried it." Helen raised a challenging eyebrow at him.

"Because I know how essential it is for Sanctuary operations!"

"Which is why you were fiddling with it in the first place, I take it?"

"I _was_ trying to improve it," he said defensively.

"Good intentions…"

"Fine, fine," he admitted. "But this is way cooler, trust me. Here, let me –" He darted out of the room and came back in a second later, his hands behind his back, and stood next to her, practically bouncing.

Helen shook her head with a smirk. "It had better be good after all this build-up," she said teasingly.

"Oh, it is." Nikola took a step towards her and whipped his hands out from behind his back, presenting her with a sleek silver object.

"You finished the new stunner!" Helen said, pleasantly surprised, as she took it into her hands and turned it around. "Ah, Nikola, it looks wonderful." She started to break it down to see what he'd done.

"We're not talking minor recalibrations here either." Nikola knelt down by her chair. "I did all sorts of awesome stuff. Power efficiency? Increased by a whopping three hundred percent. And before you ask," he said as she opened her mouth, "let me assure you that it is just as safe as the old one. More so, actually."

Helen smiled at him. "Well done, Nikola."

His answering grin practically blinded her. "Thank you, Helen. And I haven't even gotten to the best part yet… Look." His fingers settled on top of hers and directed them towards a new switch. "I did such a fantastic job of smoothing out its operations that I was able to give you a new setting."

"Not a death ray, I hope," Helen said, looking over at him.

"Helen, please. Death _beam_. And no. Inspired by our thrilling misadventure in a certain vampire tomb, during which you expressed your true feelings for me…" A deep smirk crept gradually across his face even as he fiddled with the stunner, exposing his glinting teeth.

"I knew I shouldn't have ever let Henry convince me to have a Star Wars movie night."

"You have a cutting beam now," Nikola said, still smirking but thankfully moving on. "Much stronger _and_ more reliable than your make-shift one, I might add."

"That may prove quite useful."

"That was the idea." Nikola looked at her expectantly. "Cool, huh?"

"Very cool," she said with a nod.

He closed his eyes, basking in the praise. "Keep going, by all means."

Helen chuckled and set the stunner down. "Thank you, Nikola, really. Now, I do have quite a bit of work to catch up on, so…"

"Ah yes, those fascinating reports," Nikola sighed, getting up and heading towards the door.

"Oh, Nikola, one more thing."

He turned and raised his eyebrows.

Helen leaned forward, linking her hands and resting her chin on them. "What did you end up calling it?"

Nikola's mood immediately improved. "Ooh, you're gonna love this, Helen." He stepped closer, grinning, and lifted his hands towards her desk in another dramatic gesture. "Behold, the _Stunner Supreme!"_

Helen stared at him for a second, then she started laughing, and kept laughing so long and hard that tears began to run down her cheeks.

Nikola's offended mutter of "Hey, it's cool" did nothing to stop her, and she buried her face in her hands, her shoulders shaking.

"Fine then," he grumbled, and turned around in a rather prickly way, starting back towards the door.

"Oh no," Helen choked, still laughing so hard she could barely speak. "You're not getting away that easy." She bounded up from her chair and made it across the room before Nikola reached the threshold. He turned again as she approached, his forehead creasing, and she grabbed his shoulders, sliding one hand up his neck and into his hair, pulling him against her.

Nikola stood stock still in surprise for a half-second, then he kissed her back fervently, his arms unfreezing to wrap around her shoulders. His hair slid smoothly through Helen's fingers as he tilted his head to get a better angle, and she gripped it firmly, pressing up into him.

Unfortunately, Helen's recent fit of merriment had left her a little short on air, and she was forced to pull back and take a deep breath, and even that was broken by a few lingering chortles. She rested her cheek on Nikola's shoulder and hugged him tightly.

"Mmmmmm," Nikola said eloquently, fingers threading through her hair as he kissed her forehead. "I would've redone the stunners years ago if I'd known that was going to be your reaction."

Helen laughed again, the sound muffled by his waistcoat.

They stood like that for a minute before Nikola, of course, broke the silence, with a predictable remark. "I'm not working on anything pressing, by the way."

"Unfortunately, I am," Helen said. She kissed his cheek. "Off you go. Don't blow anything up."

"Helen, I would _never_ do such a thing," Nikola said, feigning shock. He only kept up the charade for about two seconds before another wide grin split his face, and he practically cackled as he backed up to the door before disappearing through it.

Helen looked after him for a second before shaking her head and going back to her desk, where she turned over the stunner a few more times before setting it aside and returning her attention to the reports.


	5. Permanent Magnets: Part 3

**A/N: The third and (probably) final part of the post-canon series - "In the dark kiss."**

* * *

"I've said it before and I'll say it again, Helen, you and me, dark corridors, it's a pattern." As they walked down the dim hallway, Nikola sidled closer to Helen until their shoulders brushed so he could lean over and whisper in her ear. "I think we should do something about that."

Helen turned her head to level a highly unimpressed stare at him. "Yes, perhaps the Master of Electricity himself _should_ do something about that." She rolled her eyes.

"That's, uh, not quite what I meant."

"I know what you meant."

"And must you remind me of my former glory, now lost forever? I can barely turn a lightbulb on anymore." His tone switched with lightning speed from mournful to flirtatious. "You, on the other hand…"

"Chin up, Nikola. You've just traded in that particular power for the ability to come up with endless cheesy lines to use on me." Helen stopped as if she'd just had a revelation. "Oh, wait. You've always had that."

"Hmph. You're clearly determined not to have any fun tonight."

"I fail to see what's so fun about the trafficking of hundreds of abnormals." Helen gave him another look, her eyebrows raising.

"Sure, I mean, when you put it like that…" he said, lifting his hands. "But try to see it from my perspective. You're going to burst in there, shoot some people in that stunning way of yours, save all of those poor helpless abnormals, and then it's back to the Sanctuary for a passionate night of –"

" _Nikola_. Focus." Helen felt her lips tugging up despite herself. "And try to keep quiet. If we alert anyone to our presence before Will gets his team in position, they'll almost certainly be able to scatter out through the secondary exit."

"Eugh." Nikola's nose wrinkled. "This is a lot less exciting than I was expecting. You said 'smuggling ring' and I was picturing…" He shrugged. "Something cool. Not yet another unimaginative dark hallway. I mean, come on. Not that I'm complaining too much about that part," he tacked on. "I just like a little variety in my life."

"You're the one who keeps begging me to take you on missions. Well, welcome to the Sanctuary team." Helen tried to inject a little "now let's get back to business" into her voice, casting a concerned glance around. So far, they hadn't run into anyone in the vast, empty storage facility that served as the ring's headquarters, but that wasn't likely to last very much longer.

"What, and just because you all do it the boring way means I have to?"

"Yes, actually."

Nikola sighed. "Fine."

Mercifully, he fell silent after that. For two whole minutes.

"Hey, Helen."

It was Helen's turn to sigh, long and heavily. "Yes, Nikola?"

"We're almost in position, right?"

"Yes."

"And Junior hasn't given you the all clear yet?"

"He has not." Helen saw where this was going; as nebulous as Nikola's motives could be, to her he was, more often than not, transparent as glass.

"Well then," Nikola said triumphantly. "I think we should find ourselves a nice, quiet little corner and pass the time until then a little more pleasantly."

Helen made a noise somewhere between a snort and a cough. "Might put a damper on all of that bursting in, shooting, and rescuing you were talking about earlier, don't you think?"

Nikola sighed again. "You and your incredibly attractive sense of justice."

Helen had to bite her lip to keep from laughing this time, and she shook her head, about to make another attempt to get Nikola to quiet down, when he jerked to a halt beside her. He had been walking close to her with his fingers wrapped lightly around her arm; when he stopped, Helen immediately stopped too.

"There are people coming up ahead," he said quietly, narrowing his eyes.

Helen peered forward into the shadowed hall. There was no sign of anything yet, but she trusted Nikola's abilities.

"Oh, this'll be fun," he muttered, taking a step away from her. "Just what I needed to break the monotony." He flicked a hand, his claw-like nails extending as his eyes turned black.

Helen could hear the familiar hiss building up in his throat, but before he could do anything else she grabbed his wrist and hauled him back, throwing them both off balance.

"What was that for?" Nikola righted himself indignantly.

"You can't just go charging in there!" Helen hissed. "We can't raise an alarm yet, remember? I'm not letting any abnormals slip through our fingers just because you're bored."

"Come on, Helen," he protested. "We can take 'em."

Nikola's claws had retracted as soon as she'd taken his hand, and Helen got a firmer grip on it and tugged him back down the hall to the last corner they'd turned, pressing them both up against the edge of the wall.

"You're absolutely right," she said. "Which is why we're going to, as soon as I have a clear shot and they can't see us coming."

Nikola opened his mouth, then closed it. "Well, we could have at least ducked into a cramped closet," he said crossly.

Helen stared at him for a second. "You just never stop, do you?"

He flashed a sharp smile at her.

If Helen concentrated, she could now hear the faint clang of footsteps on the metal floor from up ahead, and when she looked out into the hall around the corner she could see a beam of light bouncing up and down the far wall. Some kind of security patrol, most likely. Helen was surprised they hadn't run into one earlier.

Helen let go of Nikola's hand and pulled out the new stunner. It really was a marvelous piece of work, and she couldn't help but admire it.

"That looks remarkably good on you," Nikola murmured over her shoulder.

"They're getting closer," Helen said out of the corner of her mouth. "Be quiet."

"As loud as you're breathing? You're one to talk."

"That's you," she hissed.

"Excuse me." Nikola managed to infuse a lot of righteous indignation in a whisper. "I'm a vampire; I don't breathe heavily, I –"

The beam of light appeared on the wall opposite them, indicating the group had turned into their hallway, and they both fell silent. Helen edged just beyond the corner to take a look.

"Three of them," she whispered to Nikola.

"Excellent." He extended his claws again, his eyes darkening.

Helen leaned out one more time, getting an idea of their position, then stepped quickly out from the corner, Nikola following her, and shot all three of them before they even had a chance to react. They toppled to the ground, unconscious.

Helen glanced down at the stunner, flipping it back and forth in her hands. "Oh, this is wonderful, Nikola!"

Nikola skidded to a halt beside her, staring open-mouthed at the ground. "My God," he breathed. "That was incredibly hot."

Helen turned around to give him a look.

"Though you could have saved one for me," he added.

"Well, you know, didn't want to let them get their hands on the last vampire. Imagine how much you'd be worth." She shrugged, smirking.

"Aww, Helen." Nikola grinned. "I don't know what's more attractive about what you just said: you calling me priceless, or you being protective."

"Oh, you're priceless alright," Helen said sarcastically, but she was smiling. "Come on. We're almost there."

"Ok, so let me get this straight," he said as they started off down the hall again. "Did you just say that you'd shoot anything that threatens me?"

Helen snorted. "I'd end up shooting you if that were the case."

"You _have_ shot me."

"Ah. Yes. Well, I'd be shooting you more often."

"You've shot me a _lot_."

"Not recently!" she protested.

"True," Nikola admitted. An impish smile crept over his face. "So?"

"So…?" She raised her eyebrows.

"So would you shoot anything that threatened me?"

"Nikola." Helen stopped walking. "I hardly think now is the ideal time to be discussing this." She gestured down the hall. "Abnormal trafficking? Remember?"

"You said it yourself, we're almost in position and Junior hasn't radioed in yet." Nikola's smile dipped. "Helen."

Helen pursed her lips and avoided looking at Nikola. "Alright," she said at length, stiffly. "I may…" She trailed off.

She did seem to pull Nikola out of trouble quite frequently, but then, she'd had to watch him nearly die more times than she cared to count, and she was all too aware that if anything ever happened to him, there would no longer be anyone like her in the world.

Nikola had been in her life for something like a hundred and fifty years, give or take depending on how many timelines you took into consideration; he was one of the best friends she'd ever had, he knew her better than anyone living, and he understood what an immortal life was like.

Those, at least, were the reasons she used whenever the subject came up. But at the end of the day, no matter what rationalizations she threw at it, Helen wanted to keep him safe for the simple reason that she cared about him.

It was highly likely that Nikola could read at least some of this on her face, but he waited, still with a faint half-smile – probably for her to say something sarcastic and change the subject.

"Nikola," she started, then stopped. This was ridiculous. "It would have to be within reason," she said at last.

"…What?"

"I'm not…shooting a dragon, or anything like that."

"Why – why would you do that." Nikola had clearly not been expecting that topic shift.

"Well, you were the one who asked."

Nikola blinked. "Wait, are you –"

"Yes, but there's no need to dwell on it. Now, let's get moving, we've wasted enough time as it is." She turned on her heel and started to walk away, leaving him still standing in the hall.

"Helen, wait." He caught up to her and took her hand, spinning her to face him before he kissed her – a long, deep kiss that lasted until they had to break apart for air. Nikola's hands had settled against Helen's arms, pulling her closer to him, and when they separated, he slid his hands down to her waist.

He kissed her again, briefly, then smiled. "Thank you," he said softly.

Before Helen could say anything, the radio crackled with Will's voice, letting them know he was ready.

"Really, could he have worse timing?" Nikola sighed.

Helen patted his shoulders. "It wouldn't be bad if we were where we're supposed to be," she pointed out.

"Fine, but it was worth it."

She chuckled. "Perhaps. Are you coming or not?"

"Of course," he said, picking up his pace to match her, striding quickly along the hall. "I'm still waiting for this to get interesting."

"Oh, that wasn't interesting enough for you, back there?"

"Mehhh."


	6. Flux

**A/N: This is set post-Firewall, pre-Animus. Originally written for the prompt "I've missed you kiss," but it sort of morphed into its own thing. Enjoy!**

* * *

Investigating the holographic city had gone well at first. The first rush of wonder and excitement had carried them all through several hours of looking around, trying to gather as much information as they could.

Just as it seemed they finished examining a section, another one popped up. Whatever this city was, its boundaries were apparently too wide to fit entirely in Helen's library. It was frustrating that none of the writing was in a language they understood, but in a way those things almost added to the magic; until, that is, those several hours had passed and the city had been poked and prodded until it seemed, despite its constant shifting, every building had been gone over three times. No matter how fascinating the city was, Helen couldn't really blame anyone for starting to get weary.

Kate lost interest first, and dragged Bigfoot, who probably would have stayed the longest otherwise, off to play Guitar Hero with her. How that was supposed to cure the headache she'd claimed as the reason why she couldn't peer at the city anymore, Helen wasn't quite sure, but she understood.

Henry and Will lasted longer, but after four hours of wandering around the city and accomplishing little, it was clear that they were also starting to fade. When Helen overheard a whispered conversation about which original trilogy Star Wars movie was better, she sent them off to get some rest.

It was almost relaxing, being in the city by herself. It was so realistic – Helen nearly tripped over a few small buildings to prove it – the ambient sounds of its railways and zeppelins skimming around and the hum of its lights buzzing softly in her ears were almost comforting. And Helen couldn't stop wondering what it was, why her father had left it for her; she missed him, and in some small way having the city around her was like being around him.

* * *

Helen returned to the holographic city whenever she could over the course of the next few weeks, sometimes with help, sometimes without. Even her patience was beginning to wear thin, though. Whatever her father had left her the map for, surely it hadn't been because he wanted her to casually take a look at it every once in a while; what she needed to do was make a real, concerted effort to solve it. With a few days of focused work, Helen was sure she could crack the city and its secrets wide open.

A fresh pair of eyes wouldn't hurt, either. Helen really had made her way through a substantial chunk of the city now, and she could only stare at the same things for so many hours. Unfortunately, she was afraid she'd rather exhausted the rest of the Sanctuary's ability to do so too.

Helen stood in the center of the city as one of the zeppelins bumped into her shoulder. She turned and sent it on its way with a flick of the hand. A smile crept onto her face.

She knew _exactly_ whom to call.

* * *

Whenever he left, Nikola always seemed to leave a way to get in touch with him, and whenever Helen actually tried, inevitably it didn't work. So, the last time he had been at the Sanctuary, Helen had made him take one of her cell phones with him.

"You know, I predicted the smartphone a hundred years ago," he'd told her smugly.

"Yes, which is why you had to resort to electromagnetic Morse code the last time you needed help."

"Hey, I lost my phone, alright? When you're being chased by vampire…bug…things, you can get a little frazzled."

"Right." Helen had pressed the phone into his hand and curled his fingers around it. "God help me, I've given you the numbers for all of the major contacts in the global Sanctuary network, so…wherever you are, if you ever need anything, someone should be within range."

He'd scoffed. "Please. As if I'd ever go running for help to anyone but you."

"Well, then call me," Helen had said, exasperated. "Just call _someone_."

"Fine, fine."

* * *

Helen had to try five times before he answered. She'd spaced out her calls every hour and a half to allow for possible time zone differences, and didn't catch him until early in the morning.

"Helen?" Nikola said, sounding concerned. "I assume this is you. I don't know what business any of the youngsters would have calling me. What time is it over there, two?"

"Yes, and if you'd answered the last four times I'd tried, I wouldn't have had to stay up this late."

"Oh. Sorry. I've been busy." Nikola paused. "I kinda forgot you gave me this, too."

"Busy doing what?"

"Nothing of import," Nikola said. "Are you checking up on me? I haven't fallen into a ditch, if that's what you're worried about."

"No, I –"

"Why, only three people have shot at me in the last week and a half. Well. Groups of people. _Oh_ , that's it. You're jealous. Don't deny it."

Nonplussed, Helen blinked. "Nikola, what…are you alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. But if you want to check me over, just to be sure…"

"I can see you're feeling fine," Helen said dryly. "Do you want to dodge any more questions, or would you like to hear why I'm calling you?"

"I imagined it was because you'd missed the dulcet sound of my voice," Nikola said. She could just picture the smirk on his face right now.

"Well, it certainly wasn't because I'd missed your sense of propriety."

"I missed you too. So, if you're not calling to reassure yourself nothing tragic has happened to me, why are we having this lovely conversation?"

"I've, ah, discovered something I think you may be interested in. A puzzle, of sorts."

"You know I love it when you're cryptic, but that might be a little vague even for me."

"Honestly, Nikola, we're not quite sure what it is. It's impossible."

"Oh, Helen…" Nikola drew in his breath. "Keep talking."

* * *

She'd given him her codes to get into the Sanctuary the last time, too, but she still met him as soon as he arrived. When she opened the door, she found him leaning against it in an entirely over-dramatic pose.

"Nikola," she said by way of greeting.

"Helen," he said, grinning, and swept into the entrance hall.

Helen rolled her eyes and shut the door behind him.

He glanced around. "I see you didn't bother rolling out the red carpet."

"I take it you haven't checked your watch lately." Helen gestured to the windows, which showed the pitch-black sky outside.

"I was halfway around the world, Helen, my watch still says it's three o'clock in the afternoon."

"Well, apart from the big guy, I'm the only person left awake in the Sanctuary right now; hence, your shamefully poor welcome."

"Hmm. I can certainly think of better ways to celebrate than the kiddies running around underfoot anyway." Nikola had been pacing around the entrance lazily; he flipped now to face her and took a step in her direction.

"I'm sure you can," Helen said, with a healthy dose of sarcasm. "Alright, come on, Nikola. I have something for you."

"Ooh. Are you going to shower me with gifts every time I stop by, or is this just a one-time thing, because you missed me so much?" He trailed her out of the entrance and through the Sanctuary corridors.

"Don't expect to be showered," Helen answered, laughing a little. "But I do appreciate your dropping whatever it is you were doing, that I _will_ find out about eventually, and getting here so quickly."

"Anything for my beloved." Nikola caught up to her so he could walk beside her, their arms just brushing. He ignored her other comment.

"I could really use a new outlook on it," Helen continued. "My eyes are starting to cross."

"Well, look no further; here I am. My eyes are uncrossed – I'm yours."

Helen looked over at him, her mouth twitching. "You're looking forward to this, aren't you?"

"How could I not be?" Nikola sighed happily. "The chance to spend hours upon hours, closeted with you, solving impossible riddles…It's a dream come true."

"I am rather hoping it's not going to be hours upon hours," Helen pointed out.

He waved a hand. "We'll see."

They reached her office, and Helen went over to her desk. She picked up the bottle she'd pulled out from the cellar earlier that day and turned, proffering it to Nikola.

He took it, his fingers wrapping around its neck as he looked at the label with a delighted expression. "Oh, you _have_ missed me!" he said. "It's no use trying to hide it."

"Are you going to open it or not?" Helen asked.

Nikola weighed the bottle in his hands, his eyes flicking between it and Helen. "Hmm, decisions, decisions…Oh, what the hell. Let's celebrate." He rounded her desk and started fiddling in one of the drawers, pulling out the corkscrew she kept in there.

Helen took the glass he offered her. Eschewing the normal purpose of furniture as he usually did, Nikola sat on her desk and swirled the wine in his glass. Ordinarily, Helen would have simply sat in her chair, but something made her join him on her desk instead, surreptitiously nudging aside a few papers.

Nikola took a sip and closed his eyes. "Ah, Helen. You certainly do know how to extend a warm welcome. I should come around more often."

"You should," Helen said. "But don't expect this kind of welcome every time. My wine cellar can't afford it."

He opened his eyes and looked at her sidelong. "You're not presenting a very compelling argument."

"You know," Helen said, ignoring him. "You were complaining about the warmth of my welcome five minutes ago."

"Well," Nikola said, grinning and holding up his glass, "you _also_ know how to change my mind."

"That I do." She clinked her glass against his. "Cheers."

"Amen."

They sat in companionable silence for a few minutes longer, while Nikola poured himself another glass and Helen pretended not to notice him edging over on the desk until their legs were pressed together.

"Might not want to have too much of that in one night," Helen pointed out, eyeing the bottle with memories of the last few times Nikola had forgotten that he wasn't immune to alcohol any longer dancing in front of her eyes.

Nikola groaned. "Ugh, Helen, why do you always have to remind me? Separated from my beloved forever…" He gave the bottle a mournful look.

"Don't be melodramatic. You've had two glasses already. Besides, I don't want you falling all over the city."

He perked up. "Speaking of, when do I get to see it? I mean, date night with you is always fun, but…" He raised his eyebrows with a hopeful look.

"Right now, if you'd like." Helen bit back a laugh as he practically jumped off the desk, balancing the bottle and glass with remarkable dexterity.

"Great, let's go." He set the glass down, tucking the bottle into his elbow, and extended a hand to her, smiling expectantly.

Helen's lips twitched, and she slid her hand into Nikola's, allowing him to tug her gently up off the desk. She let go of his hand as soon as she was standing upright, but he followed her out of the door and down the hall as if she'd had a firm grip on him, pulling him along in her wake.

* * *

If Nikola's eyes got any bigger, Helen thought they might pop out of his head.

"Oh, Helen," he murmured. He looked at her, a wondrous smile spreading across his face, taking a step forward, deeper into the city. Another step, and he stumbled, tripping over one of the smaller buildings that hadn't gotten out of his way in time.

Instead of wailing and clutching at his foot, as Helen had been half-expecting from someone of Nikola's drama caliber, he started laughing. No, it wasn't laughing, it was…giggling. Nikola Tesla was giggling, and though Helen would never be caught dead saying it out loud, it was ridiculously cute.

"Helen…" He waved at his feet. "I was able to trip over that. Whatever that was. Oh my God." He knelt down. "The level of detail…"

Helen smiled at him, now crawling over the floor and poking at the tiny windows on the buildings. His enthusiasm, as always, was contagious, and Helen could feel her own excitement over the city coming back.

"I'm glad you're enjoying yourself. If we're going to get anything done tonight, though, we may want to start soon."

"Just let me swoon for a couple more minutes, Helen," Nikola pleaded, staring at the railway with wide eyes. He reached out a hand and ran a finger along the tracks.

"Ah, Nikola, you know I have to make you earn your keep," Helen said, eyes twinkling.

"Age has made you cruel, my dear." Straightening up, he dusted his hands off. "So where do you want to st- hey!" One of the zeppelins flying around had hit him in the face when he jumped to his feet. He hissed at it – apparently some vampiric habits died hard – and it hurried away.

"Ouch." Nikola raised a hand to his face, prodding at the red mark quickly forming on his cheek. "Already mortally wounded in the line of duty, I see."

And _there_ was the drama.

"Oh, please," Helen scoffed. "It didn't even break the skin."

Nikola grinned. "Are you sure? Maybe you should, you know, take a look…" He sidled closer.

Helen rolled her eyes. Sighing, she went over to Nikola, putting a hand on his un-"injured" cheek and turning his head towards her.

"Ah, just as I suspected," Helen said sarcastically. "It'll be fatal by morning – you'd better get to work."

"Your concern is touching," Nikola drawled. His lips twitched and his eyes flicked down, trying to see Helen's hand. She slid it back, smiling a little at the way his eyes nearly crossed.

Helen was about to drop her hand and return her attention to the city when she paused. There was something slightly different about Nikola's face that she couldn't quite put her finger on. (Only figuratively, as she quite literally had her hand on Nikola's cheek at the moment.)

She peered closer. The unchanging image of Nikola's face had been in her mind for over a hundred years, and it didn't take her long to identify the alteration. There was a matching set of tiny, very nearly imperceptible lines around his eyes that hadn't been there before.

Helen's smile slid off. Of course. Nikola was aging. It shouldn't have been a surprise, yet somehow, it caught Helen off guard. It was so easy sometimes, between all the banter and the bickering and the distraction of scientific discovery, to forget how little time they had left. Her pulling him out of danger seemed to be a recurring theme with them, but there was one thing Helen would never be able to protect him from.

One day, Nikola was going to die. Just the thought of it was enough to send a frozen shudder through Helen.

 _Sooner or later_ was the phrase that sprung to Helen's mind, but for someone like her, later by Nikola's new standards was all too soon to her.

Not Nikola. After everyone she'd lost, not Nikola too. Couldn't she be allowed just _one person_ , someone like her, someone that she –

"Helen, I know you find me stunningly attractive, but staring slack-jawed at me for half a minute is unlike you, to say the least." Nikola's voice snapped Helen out of her trance, and she refocused to find him looking at her with concern. "Are you alright?"

Helen swallowed and plastered an unconvincing smile on. "Of course," she said, patting Nikola's cheek and dropping her hand, despite her sudden loathness to let go of him.

Nikola's eyes narrowed. Even without his extra senses, he could certainly tell that something was wrong – he knew her too well.

If she turned away and put some distance between them, it would confirm his suspicions that she was hiding something, so Helen stayed where she was, struggling to keep an innocuous expression.

In retrospect, that might not have been the wisest decision. Close proximity to Nikola was dangerous at the best of times, and now was most definitely not the best of times. He really was worried about her – it was practically radiating off him, and he reached out a tentative hand to touch her arm. His expression had become very soft, and Helen found herself moving nearer, gaze locked on his, as his eyes flickered across her face. Whether he was trying to determine her mood or looking at her lips, she wasn't entirely sure. Probably both, knowing him.

"Nikola." Helen's voice was barely audible even to her. She could feel the slight brush of air across her cheek from his breath. When had he gotten so close?

"Helen," Nikola whispered, his eyes fluttering closed as he leaned down one maddeningly slow inch at a time.

Helen's hands had settled back onto Nikola, grasping his arms gently, and she used that to pull herself into him. She changed direction at the very last second and kissed his cheek where the holographic zeppelin had landed, closing her eyes and keeping her lips pressed against it for a long moment.

"Now," she said, pulling back at last and patting his cheek again. "Are we ever going to get started?" Her voice sounded perfectly controlled, which Helen congratulated herself for.

"Uh," Nikola said, blinking rapidly.

Helen finally deemed it safe to turn away from him, and she did so quickly, heading away before he could see the way her hand was shaking slightly. She had owed him a fake-out kiss, and had thankfully remembered it in time, before things got even more awkward than they already were. If, perhaps, she felt a slight tinge of regret at not letting it go that far, that was something she could deal with.

Her earlier thoughts were not so easy to brush aside, and she thought it best to get back to work as soon as possible.

"Coming, Nikola?" she asked, turning. "I thought your uncrossed eyes were mine to do with as I will."

The motivation of getting to play around in the city some more seemed to be enough to recover Nikola – or maybe it was the golden opportunity to make suggestive comments. Either way, he grinned toothily. "As am I," he said. "Lead on."


	7. Pull Test: Part 2

**A/N: No particular prompt on this one - it immediately follows my last post-Pax Romana ficlet (Chapter 2).**

* * *

Nikola kept his arm around Helen for the duration of their trip down to the infirmary, occasionally pressing a light kiss to her temple. Once there, he reluctantly relinquished his hold on her so she could look the children over, presumably to make sure their brains hadn't melted from all the incredible things _they_ had seen and _he_ had not. (He planned on being bitter about that for a while.)

Helen had continued leaning into him on the way down, practically snuggling into his shoulder in a contented way that made Nikola's breath catch in his throat. Helen wasn't often this openly affectionate, even granted that he hadn't tried to take over the world lately. As happy as Nikola was about it, it did surprise him. But she'd been through a lot in the last several days, and he would bet several bottles of her wine that it had taken more of a toll on her than she would admit, certainly in front of the kids. If he could provide any measure of comfort, he was more than willing to do so. And if there was anybody who understood what a sudden dose of imminent demise felt like after a hundred years of complacent immortality, it was Nikola.

Since he couldn't do what he really wanted to (wrap himself tightly around Helen and never let go), he settled for leaning against the infirmary wall, keeping his eyes on Helen, and dropping the occasional witty remark into the others' conversation, grinning at her every time she rolled her eyes at him.

From the tidbits he was overhearing, it had been even more of an interesting trip than he'd thought. The dragon was cool enough, but it sounded like there was a whole world of intrigue and, of course, ridiculously advanced technology waiting underneath the surface. Nikola was already plotting how to get Helen to take him next time. Or go by himself.

He had been thinking, earlier, about whether he would stay once they got back ( _if_ they got back ringing through his head the whole time), and plumbing the depths of Hollow Earth was certainly a worthy endeavor to skip town for. Especially since the locals didn't seem to want anybody down there. It made him wonder what they were hiding.

But Nikola didn't especially relish the thought of taking off just now. He'd gotten somewhat attached to the Sanctuary in his time here studying the map, and of course there was Helen, whom he was even more unwilling to leave, now, when she'd come so close to-

"Nikola," Helen interrupted his musing, raising her eyebrows at the various medical instruments that had begun to float in the air.

"Oh. Sorry." He forced a toothy smile and unnecessarily waved his hand, getting his rebellious magnetic field under control.

"Thank you." She went back to work, peering at Henry's leg.

* * *

It seemed to take ages until Helen finally pronounced them all fine and dandy – Nikola had nearly had a heart attack when she'd said they'd "suffered no ill effects from being killed."

"What the hell?!" He'd shot upright from his lazy position against the wall.

"Yeah, not as cool as it sounds," Henry had interjected.

"Nothing to worry about, Nikola," Helen had said, giving him a knowing look, her lips actually twitching. "A little Praxian technology we weren't expecting, to say the least."

"Being killed is usually something to worry about," he'd pointed out. "Trust me, I speak from experience."

Now, Helen watched the kids filing out of the room, off to get some rest – or, as Kate phrased it, "become one with the bed."

Nikola watched Helen, and proof of his earlier theory was written all over her face: she was tired. In a good mood – apparently she considered her sojourn in Hollow Earth an overall success, despite the rough patches – but exhausted. He wondered if she'd slept at all on the way home. Tonight, Nikola was going to make certain she got a decent night's rest, no matter what he had to do to ensure it.

When the door shut behind Henry, Nikola felt a strong urge to go over and hug Helen again. Instead, he pushed himself off the wall and went over to stand by her, eyes tracking her hands as she cleared up the infirmary.

"Don't you have a butler for that?" he asked.

Helen smiled a little. "I don't mind cleaning up after myself. Unlike some of us," she added mischievously.

Nikola rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, putting a hand over his chest. "And here I've been all responsible today – remarkably so, really, I should get some credit for that. It probably won't happen again."

"Sorry, Nikola." Helen didn't sound especially sorry. "I really am grateful to you for staying. Though I'm glad you didn't have to deal with any Sanctuary crises." She pretended to shudder. "God only knows what chaos would ensue."

"Hey!" he protested. "I do all my best work under pressure."

She narrowed her eyes. "Is that so?"

"Case in point: the vampire shield. I had what, a couple of days to make that? And it's even stylish and everything."

Helen laughed for just a little too long for Nikola not to feel that his vampire shield was being rather slighted. "You may remember I just told you it didn't work," she pointed out at length.

"Actually, you said it 'needed work.' Which is still insulting, frankly, but I'm willing to forgive you if you keep your over-enthusiastic butler out of my wine cellar for a few weeks."

" _Your_ wine cellar?" Helen repeated, eyes twinkling. "My, someone's feeling at home."

Oops. Nikola had been hoping to keep his reflections about his life at the Sanctuary – more specifically, his reluctance to leave – to himself for a while. "Well," he said defensively, "I'm just…giving it the attention it deserves. A good home, if you will. If _you're_ not going to _appreciate_ it…" He made sure to exaggerate his accusing tone so as to distract Helen.

It didn't work for a second. "Then you'll take it off my hands? Going to adopt the lab next, are you? Take it with you on your travels?" She tilted her head, her eyebrows raised. Helen was always extra sarcastic when she knew she had him backed into a corner.

"God, no. Someone should put that thing out of its misery."

"Hmm." She chuckled, but thankfully let the subject drop after that. "Well, regardless, your vampire shield really does need some improvement. I can give you the details on how the Praxian scanner reacted to it, if you'd like."

"If you'd be so kind, my lady," Nikola said, giving her a deep, elaborate bow. He looked up to see Helen rolling her eyes, but with a reassuringly fond smile.

"But first!" He offered his hand to her, grinning. "I have to show you something."

Helen looked down at his hand, hovering expectantly between them, then glanced back up at him with another raised eyebrow. "Oh? Should I be worried?"

"Aww, don't you have any faith in me?"

"Well, I did just leave you mostly alone in my Sanctuary for an extended period of time…"

"Please," Nikola scoffed. "I'm the very picture of responsibility."

Helen snorted inelegantly. "I think the power's gotten to your head."

"Your shoddy power system, maybe." Nikola reverted to his previous topic before he insulted too many other parts of the Sanctuary. "You'll like this, really."

Shaking her head with another slight smile, Helen took his hand. "Alright. But I'm taking any damages out of your salary."

"You don't pay me."

"Then you'll just have to owe me, won't you?" She gave him a look that nearly made him melt.

"I can live with that."

* * *

"Really, Nikola, this is childish," Helen complained, nearly bumping into another table.

"Well of course it is, it's me. Just keep your eyes closed for one more step. There." Nikola reluctantly dropped his hand from Helen's elbow, where he had been using it to guide her.

Helen immediately opened her eyes and looked around. "This is my office."

"Yes, it is."

"It's remarkable," she said sarcastically. "However did you manage to find it? Truly, a great discovery worthy of the genius of Nikola Tesla."

"Why, thank you, Helen," Nikola said, beaming. "I always knew you thought of me as a genius."

Helen pursed her lips. "What did you want me to see?"

"Well, not _see_ so much as _consume_ …"

Her brow furrowed.

Nikola stepped aside and waved a hand towards the small table by the couch, where two steaming cups of tea sat waiting. "I made you tea," he said simply. "I thought you could use it." For as long as he had known her, tea had been Helen's preferred method of relaxation, and after the week she'd just had, he'd suspected a little relaxation wouldn't go amiss. He had to admit, though, his motives hadn't been entirely unselfish. Making it had also calmed Nikola's rattled nerves during the seemingly endless wait for Helen to get home from Hollow Earth. Just the smell of it reminded him of her, which he had rather needed at the time.

"Nikola," Helen said softly, sarcasm melting away. She met his eyes as he cleared his throat, feeling uncharacteristically nervous.

"As interim Sanctuary leader, I felt it my duty to carry my role out completely," he said to cover it up, waving her on. "Come on, have some. It's just the way you like it."

She crossed over to the couch and examined one of the cups, touching it lightly. "It's still hot," she said, sounding surprised. "Did you sneak off while I was in the infirmary?"

"No, I made it right before you got home," Nikola said, following her to the couch and sitting down next to her. "I just took the liberty of enhancing one of your tea warmers a bit. If you ever wanted something kept hot through a raging blizzard, you need look no further."

"I'll, ah, keep that in mind," Helen said, chuckling. She took a cautious sip. "This is…quite good, actually."

"No need to sound so surprised," Nikola said. "I think after a hundred years I should at least remember how you take your tea."

"You'll have to excuse my pessimism. I'm only remembering the last time you tried to cook for me," Helen said. From her wide smirk, she was clearly deriving a great deal of amusement from the memory.

"August 27th, 1940," Nikola said automatically.

"You tried to 'do something special' for my 90th birthday."

Nikola winced. "It was an isolated incident."

"Poor Nigel was never the same," Helen teased, her voice shaking with laughter.

"Nigel always did have dreadful taste," Nikola said, but with no real venom – even a touch of distant fondness.

Helen took another sip, laughter fading down gradually.

Nikola leaned back, watching Helen drink her tea with a warm feeling of contentment spreading through him. "Alright, Helen, spill," he said after a while.

"Excuse me?"

"You promised me details about Hollow Earth. Tell me about the dragons first. No." He raised a hand. "Tell me about the zeppelins. Better yet, tell me about all of that lovely Praxian technology just sitting there waiting for me to have fun with."

"How about I tell you about your vampire shield, so you can work on it?"

"My my. Are you already plotting to go back to Hollow Earth, even though they kicked you out? How contrary of you." Nikola grinned. "Have I told you lately that I love the way you think?"

Over the years, Helen had mastered the fine art of mysterious smiles. She gave him one now. "I believe you may have mentioned something of the sort."

"Well then, since it's for a good cause, go ahead. I need all the information I can get if we're going to make it to Hollow Earth again without being detected this time. Oh, and will you make sure Junior gets me everything I need? I'll be making another vampire shield too – you know, so you can bring me along next time. I'm not missing out on it again."

"I'll talk to Will," Helen promised. He noticed she didn't immediately shoot down his plan to come with her – a hopeful sign. "I take it you'll be staying for a while?"

"Yeah, a while," Nikola echoed, looking down. He had to leave eventually, of course – there was too much of his work that didn't gel with Helen's. Still… "Without access to the scanner itself, it may take me some time to figure out all those problems you seem to enjoy reminding me of."

He could work on the shield here or elsewhere, it didn't really matter much, but it was as good a justification as any for staying with Helen for the time being.

"I understand," Helen said, and he was quite sure she did. She reached over to grasp his hand lightly. "You know that you are always welcome here, Nikola."

Nikola swallowed, turning his hand over and running his thumb along the outside of Helen's hand. "Thank you, Helen," he said quietly.

She kissed his cheek, lips brushing against his skin just long enough for him to close his eyes and bend his head towards her in a futile attempt to prolong their contact. With her free hand, she squeezed his shoulder briefly. Maybe she wanted to extend the moment, too, because she rested her forehead against his, fingers sliding down his arm gently. Nikola kept his eyes shut, letting himself just breathe Helen in for a minute, a minute that ended far too soon. He opened them when she pulled away and picked her teacup back up.

"Now, details," she said. "Technology first, because I'm feeling generous."

"Oh Helen, my dear, you're too good to me."

* * *

"Dragons, huh?"

"Yeah. I mean, I wasn't there for that part, but still...Pretty crazy, right?"

"Hmm. Glad you all got home safe." The big guy's tone was gruff, but then it was always gruff, so Kate didn't take offense.

She grinned instead. "Aww, didn't know you cared."

"Thought I might not be able to beat anyone on Guitar Hero for a while."

"Har har." Memories of her last crushing defeat running through her mind, Kate thought it was time to change the subject. "Say, you have anything special planned for that?" She waved a hand at the tray Bigfoot was carrying, loaded down with a teapot and, more importantly, a couple of plates of delicious looking goodies.

He glanced at it. "It's for Magnus. She always has some after long missions."

"Think she'd miss any of those cookies too much?"

The big guy leveled an unimpressed look at her. Kate could swear he and Magnus did the exact same one sometimes.

"Come on, I'm starving," she pleaded. "We had to eat crappy airplane food on the way home."

"One," he said at last.

Grinning again, Kate immediately grabbed it off the plate and downed half of it in one bite. "Thanks."

He grunted.

"So," she continued, finishing off the cookie and brushing the crumbs off. "Have fun while we were gone? What was it like being all alone with Tesla? Did you have to thwart any world domination schemes?"

"Nah. He kept interrupting me while I was trying to clean. Thought he was in charge." Bigfoot huffed quietly with laughter. "I barely noticed him otherwise."

"Huh," Kate said, eyeing the tray a little hungrily. "That's weird. I always had him pegged as the kind of guy who liked to make himself seen. And heard. Loudly."

Another grunt. "He was worried."

"About Magnus? Yeah, I kinda got that from the way he was clinging to her earlier. He was practically drooling into her hair."

Bigfoot snorted. "Thought we might have to pry them apart with a crowbar."

They both laughed at the image, and Kate took the opportunity to snitch another cookie off the tray.

"I saw that," he said.

"No you didn't."

* * *

They reached Magnus' office in a few more minutes and stopped in front of the door.

"Wanna bet the count's in there with her?" Kate said, nudging the big guy in the ribs. Or as close to the ribs as she could reach, anyway.

Chuckling, Bigfoot knocked on the door, but there was no answer.

"Are you sure she's there?" Kate asked. "I would've thought she'd have wanted to get some rest. Like _I_ was on my way to, when somebody distracted me. Or," as another idea occurred to her, "they seemed _really_ happy to see each other. Do you think they're, you know…" His head swung around to give her another scarily Magnus-esque look and she trailed off.

He knocked again, then, looking a little concerned, tried the door. It was unlocked, and slid open smoothly. Kate sidled in after him and took in Magnus' empty desk, then glanced around the room.

"Hey," she said softly, elbowing him again and gesturing to their right. "Check it out. Looks like somebody beat you to the tea punch."

Empty tea things were scattered on the small table. Magnus and Tesla were on the couch, but if they'd been interrupted in the middle of anything, they were doing a damn good job of bluffing.

On closer inspection, they were both way, way out of it. Tesla's legs were stretched out in front of him (Kate heard a strangled noise from Bigfoot, no doubt at the way his shoes were scuffing the glossy wooden table.) His arms were wrapped tightly around Magnus, whose head was pillowed on Tesla's shoulder. Even as Kate watched her, she shifted in his embrace, smiling faintly and tucking her own arm more securely around his waist. Tesla, his face buried in Magnus' hair, murmured something tenderly to her in his sleep, in a language Kate didn't understand.

Suddenly, Kate felt as if she were intruding on something more personal than if she'd walked in on them tearing each other's clothes off. She took a step back, bumping into the big guy, whose thoughts were apparently running along the same track. They practically tiptoed out of the office, though Kate suspected a horde of angry nubbins couldn't wake Magnus and Tesla at this point, and closed the door quietly behind them.

"Huh," Kate said. "That was…huh."

Bigfoot grunted and wordlessly offered her the platter of cookies. "Operation Paranormal marathon?" he asked after a while.

She took a bite and chewed thoughtfully. "Nah, I'm exhausted. Raincheck?"

"Sure."

With that, they separated and headed their own ways down the hall.


	8. Pull Test: Part 3

**A/N: More fluffy post-Pax Romana nonsense.**

* * *

Helen woke up in Nikola's arms.

It certainly wasn't an unfamiliar sensation, but not one she'd grown accustomed to, either, particularly over the last few decades. It was, however, a decidedly comfortable one.

Helen was pressed into Nikola's side, his arms folded around her, head tilted to rest lightly on hers. She hadn't been expecting to sleep well, her mind still racing with everything that had happened, but she felt surprisingly refreshed. Nikola was warm underneath her, and his gentle embrace was a soothing distraction. It was no doubt due to their long friendship, but when he wasn't driving her crazy, simply being around Nikola put Helen at her ease.

Her fingers absently stroked the soft fabric of his waistcoat. She didn't even remember when they'd fallen asleep last night. They had finished Nikola's tea, of that much she was certain, and she had filled him in on Hollow Earth at least up to their first foray into the city. As the conversation progressed, they had begun drifting towards each other, as they had a wont to do when their inhibitions were lowered - this time by exhaustion on both their parts. She could remember her cheek dropping against Nikola's shoulder, his arm lifting automatically to wind around her as he sleepily tried to grill her about the Praxian rail system. Everything after that was a bit of a blur.

When exactly _her_ arms had gotten wrapped tightly around Nikola in return was a mystery.

She should detach herself from him. It was her turn to need a shower, though Nikola didn't seem to particularly mind if the way his face was crushed against her hair was anything to go by. At any rate she was awake and alert enough now that falling back asleep wasn't an option, no matter how comfortable she was.

Helen slid her arms back from his waist, wincing. Every muscle in her body protested loudly at movement, any movement – a charming little gift from the last few days, no doubt. A slight groan of pain escaped her in spite of her attempts at stealth, and Nikola shifted underneath her restlessly.

She sighed. Disengaging herself without waking him up was going to be impossible. Well, she might as well face the music.

Reaching up, she put a hand on his cheek lightly. She had been planning on waking him up, but she found herself distracted by the way he immediately leaned into her touch, sighing faintly. His lips barely grazed her fingers.

"Ah, Nikola." Helen's voice was soft. No matter the crisis or the decade, some things about Nikola always remained the same. If given the opportunity, he'd probably be agreeable to staying like this for a whole day. Possibly more.

Helen glanced at the clock. It was early yet, and she doubted anyone would come to disturb them for a long while. Maybe not a whole day, but she would allow herself a little more time with him before she got up. It wasn't often that they were able to just be together like this, with so many of their usual defenses dropped, and Helen had recently begun to remember how much she enjoyed that.

Besides, she had the time.

* * *

"Nikola," Helen said, rather loudly. He'd become something of a heavy sleeper since being turned human, as the first two times she'd just tried to wake him indicated. "Wake up, Nikola, come on. You have my wine to drink, my employees to pester, my lab to -"

Nikola's eyes opened.

"Wreck," Helen finished. "Good morning."

"Helen," he breathed, a rush of unchecked affection in his voice before he slipped effortlessly into their old patterns. "You look stunning this morning."

"And you still snore," she countered.

He sat up, bristling. "Do not."

"It's been a hundred years, Nikola, stop denying it."

"Whatever. How are you feeling?"

Helen stretched an arm in front of her, grimacing. "I'll be fine."

"Hmm." Nikola eyed her. "Well, remember to get plenty of rest."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh, are you my doctor now?"

"No," he said cheerfully. "Not your doctor. Just...yours."

"Dear Lord." Helen covered her forehead with her hand. "I walked right into that one."

"You really did." She could hear him grinning. "You're slipping, Helen. Sure you don't need rest?"

"I probably need more tea," Helen said, feigning an urgent tone. "There you are, Nikola, the fate of the Sanctuary rests in your hands."

"Tea is all well and good, Helen, but I'm sure I can think of other, far more pleasant ways to relax you," he whispered.

Helen glanced down at his lips, only inches from hers. They hadn't really moved any farther away from each other than they had been before - each of them, she suspected, using the familiar banter as an excuse to stay close to one another for just a little longer.

"Oh, Nikola," she murmured.

He grinned again, his teeth showing.

She laid her hand on his chest, her thumb stroking the edge of his waistcoat. "Get to work," she told him, and stood.

Instead of the whine she had been expecting, he started to laugh. "Oh, I'm glad you're back. Now all that's left before this really feels normal is you shooting me."

Helen could have pointed out that shooting him might cause a bit more damage than it usually did, but bringing up Nikola's current state of being only depressed them both, so she chose not to. Instead, she eyed her desk.

Nikola followed her eyes. "You can't really be planning to go right back to work."

"Why not?" It wasn't as if she could go back to Hollow Earth right now, and she wasn't planning on going out into the field any time soon, as stiff and painful as her movements were, but there was no reason she couldn't catch up on some news or research. Or paperwork, as loathsome as it was.

Nikola's mouth dropped open. "You...you're so _responsible_."

Helen laughed. "Relax, Nikola. I'm just going to make certain no one's contacted me about any emergencies while I've been away, then I'm going to have a much-anticipated shower and _possibly_ even a decent meal." And then get back to work – after all, that was what Helen did.

"Ooh." He leaned towards her. "Can I come along?"

Helen rolled her eyes, heading over to her desk and picking up the wine bottle that had been left standing on it. "A few days," she said. "I'm gone a few days, and you're already turning the place into a winery."

"Oops," Nikola said, darting up and over to her desk to cradle the bottle protectively against him. "That's mine."

"Is it?" Helen raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, I stole it from your cellar myself."

"You have a curious definition of property."

"You can take it out of my paycheck."

"I don't pay you, remember?" she pointed out, referencing their conversation from last night.

"Why don't you?" he mused.

"Why should I?"

"Well, for starters, I'm about a hundred times more useful than the louts you have working for you now."

"You underestimate them, Nikola. Plus, you cost more to maintain."

"Hmm." Nikola looked at his wine. " _That_ might be true, but come on, Helen, world domination doesn't fund itself."

"Ah yes," Helen said, nodding, "and that would be another reason why I _don't_." Her tone became mischievous. "Besides, Nikola, do you mean to tell me you don't help me out of the goodness of your heart?"

"Now you're just fighting dirty." He pursed his lips before his face melted into a grin. "I love it when you do that."

Helen shook her head, chuckling a little despite herself as she sat down. "Are you planning on standing around here all day?"

"Yes," he said lightly.

She glanced up at him, expecting a smarmy follow-up, but he just stood in the center of her office, looking back at her with a curious sincerity.

Nikola hadn't left her side since she'd returned from Hollow Earth. Helen knew, since he had done a very poor job of hiding it, that he had been worried about her. She could understand that easily – there had been quite a few times when she'd felt the same about him. She could even sympathize with his half-baked plan to help her, by turns highly amusing, exasperating, and oddly endearing, in true Nikola fashion. If their positions had been reversed, she probably wouldn't have waited as long as he had before going after him, obstacles be damned.

Letting him stay was actually rather tempting. It would probably make them both feel better – with all the turmoil of the last week, Helen wouldn't mind settling into some comfortable routines, and bickering with him was one of her most familiar. And hadn't she just been thinking about how she'd been enjoying her time with him?

Still, it wasn't practical for him to just stick to her all day, magnetic or no. (It was depressing that she'd even thought that. Nikola and his ridiculous puns must have had more of an effect on her than she thought.)

Helen stood up. "Are you sure? The sooner you get to work on the new shield, the sooner you and I can get to Hollow Earth."

He wavered. Helen could see it. This was the first time she'd outright offered to take him with her next time, and he was clearly eager to get there. "Helen," he began.

"And you can have this back when you're done." She reached out, seizing the bottle from his distracted hands.

He was thrown from whatever he'd just started to say. "What? That's just unfair," he complained.

"You did say you liked it when I fought dirty," Helen pointed out, smiling.

Nikola made a grab for the bottle, but Helen twisted it behind her back and set it on her desk.

"Don't be childish, Nikola." She raised a hand as he opened his mouth. "And don't say 'but I do it so well.'"

"But I do!" he protested.

"You realize you're trying to convince me of your own immaturity," Helen said, pressing her lips together to avoid laughing.

"No, just that I do everything well." Nikola sold his obvious attempt at a save with such a convincingly smug grin that Helen felt like congratulating him.

She closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose instead.

"Alright, fine." He lifted his hands in surrender. "I'll go work on the shield. Since I'm clearly not wanted here," he tacked on dramatically, but continued before Helen could respond. "Remember, I expect a trip to Hollow Earth out of this."

"That was the deal," she assured him, her voice a little teasing. "And have I ever let you down?"

"Never," he said softly, casting such a heartfelt look at her that her breath caught a little.

Nikola always managed to surprise her.

"Well then," she said, her train of thought somewhat derailed. "I suppose you had better get to work."

"Only suppose?" Her reaction must have showed on her face, because Nikola was starting to smile. "Why, Helen, if you wanted me to stay, you should have just said so."

Helen narrowed her eyes at him, considering, before she smiled. "Go work on your shield, Nikola. I wouldn't want you to have to wait any longer for Hollow Earth than necessary."

He exhaled. "I've always enjoyed our shared love of scientific pursuits, Helen, but –"

"And come by my office tonight," she continued, interrupting him. "We can finish this off -" she tapped the bottle behind her. "I never finished telling you about Praxis, after all."

"Oh," he said, smile creeping back onto his face. "Well, that…that works for me."

"Glad to hear it," Helen said, amused. "While you're in the lab, Nikola, you may want to ask Henry about Praxis as well," she added casually. "He had far more of an opportunity to work with their technology than I did."

Nikola's head snapped up. "Wait a minute. Wolf-boy got a chance to mess with their stuff?" he breathed. "Did he see it in detail?"

"Some of it, I believe. You'll have to ask him."

He was practically glowing. "You do know I'm going to hound him the entire day now. Pun not intended."

"I realize that," Helen said, lips twitching.

Nikola took her hands. "You are incredible," he said fervently, and kissed her cheek before dashing out of her office.

Helen looked after him with a fond smile. She was almost sorry to have set him on Henry like that, but she had needed something to take Nikola's mind off his lingering worry for her, something of a more immediate nature than going to Hollow Earth at some vague, future date.

The way his eyes lit up had been so… _cute_ , for lack of a better word. Helen's smile widened. Taking him to Hollow Earth was going to be quite the experience. She couldn't wait to get back herself, or to show it to Nikola, who hadn't seen any of it before – even if she fully expected to have to bodily drag him away from anything remotely interesting-looking.

She was looking forward to it.


	9. Lines of Force

**A/N: Set right after Awakening.**

* * *

The sound of Helen's laughter, no longer muted by sub-standard human hearing, resonated through Nikola's ears like music. He sighed happily, running a hand through his hair, and dared a glance over at her. She was still chuckling, looking up at the sky, and Nikola couldn't keep the admiration off his face. She _had_ just saved the world, again. And him. Again.

Nikola shifted a bit on the ground to get a clearer look at her (if it brought their hands closer together, that was pure coincidence). He probably looked like an idiot, gazing at her in a sappy way, but he didn't really care – Helen had just given him his life back. Against all odds, she'd found a way to revamp him; he was immortal again. It was like a crushing weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

Ever since he'd been de-vamped, his eventual death had loomed in front of him constantly. There was _so much_ he still had to do, so many ideas, and he'd thrown himself into his work with an unrelenting will that would have taxed his strength even as a vampire. As a human, well, it had certainly done nothing to make that looming demise any further off. (All the wine probably hadn't helped, either, but Nikola certainly wasn't giving that up. He and the rest of the Five prided themselves on being rule-breakers, forward thinkers, but after a hundred years of habit, Nikola had apparently become as resistant to change as anyone.)

Helen had known, or suspected, that he was over-doing it. She always knew. He was pretty sure that over the last few months she had been building up to a substantial lecture on taking care of himself, which she herself had now rendered pointless.

Shame, really. She was always spectacular when she was lecturing him.

"If you're done swooning, Nikola, perhaps we should get moving."

Nikola's attention snapped back to the present, and he focused on Helen looking at him with her lips pursed, clearly amused. "Swooning at an inappropriate time? Me? Helen, I thought you had a higher opinion of me."

Ignoring him, Helen got to her feet, brushing her hands off and looking down at the blast crater. "Bloody hell," she said softly.

Nikola turned, propping himself up on his elbow and looking over the small hill they'd taken shelter behind. "Wow. I always knew our passion was explosive, but that's really taking it to the next level." Grinning, he looked back up at Helen just in time to see her pinch her nose.

"Dear Lord," she groaned.

"Careful, Helen, at this rate you'll be out of catch phrases before we get back."

She shook her head, sticking her hand out. "Up, come on, before your sense of humor makes me wish I'd left you behind."

Nikola took her hand. A jolt ran through him as his fingers slipped between hers; one of the (many) accompanying perks of being a vampire was a slightly heightened sense of touch. He had gotten used to its absence – he'd gotten used to a lot of things' absence – but being able to feel every line on Helen's palm in detail and even, if he concentrated, the blood running under her skin threw him for a loop. He swallowed. Oh, he'd missed this, being so aware of Helen.

"Excuse me, _you_ leave _me_ behind?" he replied, managing a smug tone. "I'd like to point out which one of us can run faster."

Helen hauled him up and he staggered rather awkwardly to his feet – apparently, the vampiric grace would be a little longer in returning. Nikola cleared his throat. Helen was still holding his hand, and his renewed sensitivity was making every little accidental caress of her fingers across his very distracting.

"So what now?" he said, looking back at the crater again. It certainly didn't look like anything was salvageable in that smoking mass. Nikola felt a twinge at the thousands of years of history that had undoubtedly just been lost forever.

Shielding her eyes from the wind that had kicked up, Helen dropped his hand and went to the crest of the hill. "We head back to the Sanctuary," she said. "There's no way anything could have survived that explosion, and we could both use medical attention."

Nikola went to stand by her. On the way here, they'd had to do some hiking to get to the caves once the terrain got more difficult, and the tunnels underground had carried them even further from the entrance, so their vehicle had certainly been outside the blast radius. In the mad rush out of the caverns, they hadn't really been paying attention to heading back the way they came, or any which way at all for that matter. Still, they were within a reasonable distance of it.

Helen said as much, still looking at the crater with a distant expression.

"Well, that's some good news," Nikola said, glad to see Helen look over at him, her eyes focusing. She'd done what she absolutely had to and she knew it, but Helen would dwell on things if she had the opportunity. He leaned in, whispering. "Though I wouldn't mind carrying you all the way home."

"Oh, please." Helen rolled her eyes.

"Come on, Helen, it would be thematically appropriate. I nearly died in _your_ arms, the least I can do is return the favor."

If he hadn't been so close, he would never have noticed Helen tensing beside him.

"Not the dying part, of course," he added with a grin. "Just the tender embracing."

"Sorry to disappoint your love of the theatric, Nikola, but I think the plane will work quite well." Her tone was even, if somewhat strained. "And I don't remember you ever being in my arms," she added, turning to face him as her expression lightened.

"Hmm, well, you can't blame me for having a fuzzy memory, you know, what with the mortal injuries and all."

Helen took his elbow rather stiffly. "Maybe while you sort it out, we could start on our way? I'd rather not stay out here for much longer."

Nikola let Helen pull him along for a few steps before she let go of his arm, setting a brisk but not difficult pace down the hill, back to the path they'd taken to get to the cavern entrance. There must have still been a great deal of dust in the air – even revamped, Nikola could barely see in the haze.

"Turning into quite the homebody, aren't you? First we spend _weeks_ closeted together on that map, now this…" Nikola was mostly making conversation, but he was eager to get back as well. His newly rediscovered abilities – and lifespan – opened all sorts of exciting doors he'd thought were closed before.

The ground seemed remarkably uneven, much more so than he remembered. Nikola set his foot down wrong and went stumbling for a few steps before he righted himself with more difficulty than he would have liked. Now a few feet further along than she was, he turned back to Helen, squinting through the haze in the air and still a little disoriented. This was worse than being drunk. How Helen was navigating this mess was beyond him.

Helen frowned at him. "Actually, I rather thought I should get you back to the Cairo Sanctuary as soon as possible. I'm not certain how your body is going to react to being revamped – your De-Vamper did its work awfully well, I'd like to make sure this is going to be permanent."

Her face was out of focus, but still incredibly beautiful, as always. Nikola smiled dizzily. "Helen, are you saying you want me around forever?" he mumbled.

She stopped walking as she reached him, peering at him with concern. "Nikola, are you alright?"

"Of course," he said, though it was becoming readily apparent he was not. "You were worrying about me. Carry on."

"Nikola." Helen gripped his shoulders. "Look at me."

"When don't I?" His words were indistinct. He blinked, still trying to clear his eyes. Helen was nothing but a vague blur in front of him – a blur that tilted suddenly and fell away from Nikola as his legs gave out.

He didn't pass out, exactly – the world just got very dim and grey and wobbly for a little while. His ears were ringing. Helen was saying something, sounding remarkably upset, but Nikola couldn't make out the words.

When his head stopped spinning and his vision cleared, he found himself flat on his back in the dirt, which didn't surprise him. That seemed to be happening a lot lately. Still, there had been a distinct lack of pain, which Nikola could only assume meant Helen had stopped him from hitting the ground too hard. She was kneeling next to him, so close his head was touching her leg. One of her hands was pressed against his neck, the other stroking his cheek gently.

"Nikola," she was whispering, so quietly he wouldn't have been able to hear her if he hadn't had his extra senses back. "Come on, Nikola. Not now."

Nikola was going to answer her, but a groan came out instead. "I thought I was supposed to be done with this," he muttered, pushing himself to sit up.

Helen had clearly been lost in her own thoughts; she started at the sound of his voice, looking at him with considerable relief. "Stay still," she ordered him for the second time that day, locking an arm around his shoulders to support him.

"You know, if you wanted to cradle me in your arms, you didn't need an excuse," he said. _This_ was a rather pleasant way to wake up, even if he could have done without the precursor. At least he could see Helen clearly again.

"I think I have my answer, but are you alright?" she asked, a note of sarcasm in her voice.

Nikola was balanced at a very uncomfortable angle, but if he shifted around, Helen might let go of him. He stayed where he was. "Ehh. Less awful than I was expecting. What the hell just happened?" A horrible thought occurred to him, and he quickly flung his hand out, away from Helen, sighing in relief as his claws slid out.

"I have a theory about that," Helen said, watching this little display with a hint of some emotion Nikola couldn't quite place. "You recall how Afina seemed a little lightheaded when she first got out of stasis? After she had a taste of your blood and pushed you down that shaft –"

"Not my finest moment," he interjected.

"True. After she revealed her intentions, I suspected she may have been feigning her weakness to garner our sympathy, but what if it was as genuine as we first believed?"

Nikola clicked his tongue. "I knew you were jealous."

"I – jealous? Really?" Helen bristled. "Please."

"You looked quite deadly," he informed her, smirking. "I was astonished, Helen, that you would be so unprofessional as to get that upset, just because someone else dared to merely _touch_ me…"

Helen raised her eyebrows. "The woman wanted to conquer the world – destroy it, maybe – and you think the biggest problem I had with her is that she held your hand?"

"Hey, I don't mind." Nikola waved the hand in question.

She shook her head, inhaling deeply. "Right, well, putting that aside, it appears that you're suffering from something similar."

"Sure. Except that I wasn't in stasis for thousands of years," he pointed out.

"Yes, but no one else has ever been de-vamped and turned back. As far as we know, you are a unique case."

"Aww, Helen. You're being so nice to me today."

She leveled a look at him. "Would you care to hear in what other ways I consider you unique, Nikola?"

"Probably not."

"I thought so. As I was saying, we have no way of knowing how you're going to be affected by this, which makes getting you back to where I can properly look you over that much more imperative." Helen sighed thoughtfully. "When you said earlier you weren't at full strength, you also said you were hungry. How are you doing with that?"

"Starving and trying not to think about it," Nikola replied.

"It may be related to that." They were both well aware that it was only a theory, but it was better than nothing. "We won't know for sure until I take a closer look at you and we can run some tests."

"You can do whatever you like with me any time, Helen," he said, grinning.

She closed her eyes. "Why I even bother…" she muttered.

"Thanks for catching me, by the way. I mean, I'm kind of invulnerable again, but it's the thought that counts."

"Ah. Well." Helen cleared her throat, looking uncharacteristically awkward. "You're very welcome."

A moment went by in silence.

"You know it physically pains me to say this, but you can let go of me now," he said, his smirk deepening. He really didn't want to bring it up, but Helen had been right about getting back as quickly as possible.

Helen immediately removed her arm and stood up, leaving Nikola on the ground wishing he hadn't said anything. She hadn't had to take his words _quite_ so to heart…

She extended a hand to him. "We'll take it easy on the way back. Tell me if you start feeling dizzy again, and we can stop and rest. Alright?"

He nodded and grasped her hand, getting to his feet with an encouraging lack of trouble.

"If you're hungry, you know, you could always go find one of those local antelope you're so fond of," she told him.

"I doubt that explosion left much hanging around behind. Besides, you might have to hunt it for me at this point," Nikola said. He was no longer so lightheaded, but he was starting to feel awfully tired. Helen didn't let go of his hand, for which he was grateful no matter how distracting it was.

"Really? I thought you were going to carry me," Helen teased, though he could hear the underlying tension in her voice.

"There's no need to be smug, my dear. Even if it is an enchanting look on you."

"Don't think I'm going to let you get away with even worse lines than usual, just because you're not feeling well," she warned.

"The thought never crossed my mind."

* * *

They made it back to their vehicle without incident. Apart from a little mild exhaustion, Nikola felt perfectly fine the whole time: a heartening sign, though it didn't seem to lessen Helen's resolve to examine him in depth as soon as possible.

The journey back to the plane took less time than it had coming – no doubt Helen was gunning the engine as surreptitiously as she could. It was…unusual, if not necessarily unpleasant, how worried she was about him, and Nikola focused on that as she got the plane in the air. The less time he spent contemplating how hungry he was, or the unlikely but troubling possibility that he might not stay a vampire, the better. Helen was always a good way to distract himself.

Sure, she was concerned about him now, but this was nothing compared to what she'd been like in Afina's tomb. (He supposed it had been a stasis chamber, really, but the place had had the air of a tomb – it had almost been _his_ tomb, and it was certainly one now.) He fully expected that now the crisis was past, Helen was never going to mention any of it again; Nikola was going to remember what she'd done for him for the rest of his life. Which was, thanks to her, a substantially longer period of time now than it had been before.

Back there, Nikola had been sure he was going to die, and all he'd really wanted in his final moments was what he'd always been happiest doing – learning, discovering, with Helen. (A last kiss might have been kinda nice, though.) Helen, on the other hand, had been buried so deeply in denial that, as touching as it was, Nikola couldn't help but try to make her come to some kind of acceptance, or at least distract her.

Maybe part of it was that he knew, no matter how much blame she rightly threw at him in her worry, that in the end, at least on some level, she would hold herself responsible. Helen had a tendency to do that. As much grief as he gave her, Nikola hadn't wanted his death weighing on Helen's conscience forever.

Of course, her refusal to give up on him had ended up saving his life. He was going to hold onto that, too.

From the pilot's seat, Helen looked over at where he sat gazing out at the shadowy ground rolling by underneath. He glanced back at her, his lips twitching in what he hoped was a reassuring smile. He was expecting Helen to say something – they'd filled the entire trip here with conversation – but she just kept her eyes on him for a moment more before turning back to the controls, leaving Nikola with nothing to do but resume his thoughts.

Helen had kept touching him during the whole affair, so much more than she usually did that Nikola thought it must have been unconscious. She would stroke his arm or his knee as if she did it all the time – even on the way back here, she had let go of his hand only rarely.

The way she'd shattered that crystal into bits, with nothing but a rock and her bare hands… His jaw had nearly dropped when he'd seen it. It was really a shame he'd been busy being pretty much unconscious at that point. She'd probably looked fabulous, all fired up and desperate to save him.

And that was vampire technology, ancient vampire technology. That would have taken determination. Helen had always had a fiercely protective streak, but to even indirectly witness it applied for _him_ …And just him. No having to save the world (yet), no Sanctuary kiddies in danger. Only him.

The best part of it was, Helen had realized her explanation of why she'd been able to break the crystal was incredibly lame and blown him off by changing the subject instead. But in doing so, she had almost admitted that he had been right – she'd done it because she couldn't stand losing him.

And that was a _very_ distracting thought.

He wasn't quite sure what to make of all this; her intensity back there had surprised even him. He knew that she probably would have done the same for anyone – after all, that was one of the reasons he loved her so much. But part of him was hoping that maybe it was an indication of something else, that maybe there was at least some part of her that returned his feelings, though Nikola didn't want to trust that hope too much. The tiniest amount of progress seemed like more than enough, more than he had ever expected, and now they had all the time in the world. He could wait.

…Though, in the middle of all of these indulgently sentimental thoughts, he felt he should also spare some appreciation for the knowledge that Helen had been two seconds away from blowing the crystal up with make-shift explosives to save him. That was just _cool_.

* * *

Helen had called ahead to the Cairo Sanctuary to prepare them for a few unexpected guests. She had always been more tactful than Nikola, so he hung back and let her explain why there was a hungry, annoying vampire on the doorstep to Pili, the Sanctuary leader. He'd also started to feel just a little dizzy again, and he let his head clear during their conversation, leaning back against the door with his eyes closed. Helen kept the pleasantries genuine but brief, apologizing for the short notice and asking to use their laboratory.

In no time at all, Helen had his arm again and was walking him down the corridor Pili had indicated. The lab at the end of the passage wasn't _bad_ , exactly. Well, no, it was pretty bad. It was no better than the one in Helen's Sanctuary, which Nikola felt was all the condemnation it required.

But it had what they needed, so they got to work.

Anyone else would probably have felt worried for themselves, being in the same room as a starving vampire, but not Helen. She didn't even seem fazed. It was incredibly hot, and Nikola said so, grinning when she looked up and rolled her eyes.

Of course, she wasn't really in any danger. From their time at Oxford just after their experiments, when their ability to find him a workable substitute for human blood had been rather in doubt, Nikola had an older vow than the one he currently upheld – a simpler one, ingrained so deeply in him he and Helen both knew he would never break it: _not Helen_. Never Helen.

* * *

After so many years of practice, their preparation time was respectably low, and Helen watched as Nikola tipped back the plasma mixture without even bothering to complain about how bad it tasted.

He made a face. "Ick. How did I _stand_ this?"

There were the complaints, right on schedule. Helen shook her head as Nikola threw back another dose, his nose wrinkling.

Feeling a sudden glow of warmth and contentment course through her as she watched her oldest friend gulp what was intended to be a replacement for human blood, and complain about how bad it tasted in comparison, might just be considered somewhat strange, but Helen enjoyed the strangeness in her life. This was an even more welcome instance than it usually was, as a matter of fact.

It couldn't help but jar her memories of times they spent together bickering in the lab over whether Nikola could make it taste better without sacrificing any nutritional properties. But it was more than that: Nikola had been a vampire almost as long as she'd known him. Now that he was returned to his old self, it seemed as if she'd managed to set something subtly wrong about the world right again.

At the time, saving his life had been the only thing on her mind, and she'd been kept preoccupied by saving the _world_ after that. Once she'd finally been able to process it, though, she had also realized with an intense, almost overwhelming rush of joy that she was no longer alone, the one and only immortal in the world: she had Nikola back.

Forever.

Presuming they concluded that it was permanent, of course, but watching him now, just as she had so many times before, Helen actually felt optimistic.

After his third helping, Nikola spluttered in an exaggerated way, jolting Helen from her ruminations and unintentionally ruining the mood. "I think that's all I can handle for now," he coughed.

Helen glanced at the lab table. "I should think so," she said, frowning. "You've went through everything we just made."

Nikola massaged his stomach ruefully. "Anything tastes good when you're starving," he said, and immediately contradicted himself by adding, "Foul brew. I hope your Sanctuary leader has some wine on hand to wash it down."

"I doubt it," Helen said to forestall him from bothering Pili. She eyed him closely. He had been looking rather pallid, but there was a little color back in his cheeks now. So far, he hadn't suffered any more serious dizzy spells, but she wasn't one to take anything for granted. "Alright, let's get you over to the infirmary."

* * *

"Ow!" Nikola jerked his arm away as soon as she'd finished drawing the needle from it. "I take back what I said earlier about you being nice to me today." He rubbed the spot where she'd taken a blood sample, looking offended.

Helen took his hand, prying his fingers off his arm and peering at it. She lifted it up. "It's already healed, Nikola," she said flatly.

He kept forgetting he could do that again. "Well, you could have given me a little more warning."

Helen held up another needle, no doubt preparing to jab that one into him as well.

" _Ow_ ," Nikola said, just to get ahead of things. "Give me a break, Helen, I had a near death experience today. I was hoping for a little more tenderness and a little less pain."

"Sorry Nikola," Helen said briskly. "You're stuck with me."

"I thought you were supposed to protect abnormals," he grumbled as Helen continued poking and prodding him.

Helen gave him an unimpressed look before rolling his sleeve down. Was he imagining it, or did her hand linger a little on his elbow before letting him go? "There, you're done, for now. You should go get some sleep. I can test this tonight."

"Nope," he said immediately. "No way. You think I'm going to just take a nap, while my fate hangs in the balance? I don't think so. I'm the vampire expert, I'm staying." From her face, he could tell that Helen was going to dispute the matter, so he held her gaze pointedly.

"You need rest, Nikola," she said, her patience clearly running a little thin.

"So do you," he countered. "Just as much as I do. You know we work faster – and better – together. It's my life, and my…vampire…ness. I'm coming with you."

She pursed her lips, then sighed, giving in. "I'm not going to waste any more time arguing with you."

Nikola grinned.

* * *

"Chairs _were_ invented for a reason, you know," Helen pointed out as Nikola knelt on the floor next to where she sat at the desk. She had already begun to run the tests on his blood that would give them the details about his revamping that they were sorely lacking.

"No more joint pain," he said by way of explanation. "I'm relishing the moment."

Shaking her head, Helen turned back to the computer with a faint smile that had been Nikola's objective. He propped his cheek on his hand, smiling back at her and enjoying her very fine profile.

"No more paper cuts," he went on. "Oh my God, I can drink as much as I want. I can get hit by cars again."

Helen raised her eyebrows, her mouth twisting in part amusement, part disturbance. "Were you planning on getting hit by a great many cars any time soon?"

"No, but you know how it is. Some people just don't have your extraordinary affection for my winning personality," he said, leaning towards her.

Helen snorted but didn't answer, and a few minutes went by in silence. Nikola's fingers drummed on the desk. Being humble was a rare experience for him, but this was worth it.

"Hey, Helen," Nikola said at last, swallowing nervously.

"Yes?" Helen sounded distracted, focused on the screen again.

"Uh," he said. Not an auspicious beginning. Helen appeared to have not even heard him. He drew her attention off the screen by sliding his hand over hers, lying close to him on the keyboard, and tried again.

"Thank you," he managed. "For what you did." Nikola gestured vaguely with his other hand towards himself. "For – all this."

Helen smiled. "You're welcome, Nikola. I…" She stopped, her expression far away. "It was certainly my pleasure," she said after a second, squeezing his hand.

Thank you just didn't seem to suffice for the enormity of what Nikola had to be grateful to her for. He looked down, stroking her fingers. "I am myself again," he said softly, knowing she'd remember their conversation from last year, after he'd been de-vamped. He looked back up, meeting her eyes. "Because of you."

Helen was looking at him with a warm sort of light that was giving Nikola trouble concentrating. She opened her mouth and closed it again, and at that moment, the computer beeped. Helen almost seemed to welcome the diversion, immediately looking back at the screen and breaking the atmosphere.

 _Damn it_.

* * *

Nikola stared at the test results. That was two the universe had handed him today. If a third wonderful thing happened to him, he was going to start getting suspicious.

Helen looked over at him, smiling slightly. "Congratulations, Nikola."

It was official: he was a vampire again, now and forever. He hadn't _really_ been expecting anything else – on some level, he had been able to feel it – but on the other hand, there had been an element of "too good to be true" in the entire business, and seeing the incontrovertible proof right there was having a rather strong effect on him.

"It looks as if my theory was correct; your earlier dizziness seems to be because of hunger, for the most part, which we've already gone a long way towards alleviating. A few more decent meals and you'll be back to – well, abnormal," Helen continued.

"Was your sense of humor always so dreadful, Helen?"

"Only since I met you." Helen pushed her chair back, taking his elbow as she stood and pulling him to his feet with her. "And you also need _rest_. Go to bed." She started marching him out of the room.

"Are you coming with me?" he asked with a twinkle.

She halted by the door, turning to grasp his shoulders. "No, _I_ am going to stay here and make sure you have something if you get hungry again tonight. The last thing Pili needs is an obnoxious vampire wandering the halls of her Sanctuary in the dead of night."

"Ah, I see," he said, grinning. "Don't want to share me, is that it? Well, I don't mind. I can go and tell our friendly Sanctuary leader that I am _your_ obnoxious vampire, and I belong only to you, dear Helen, if you'd like."

"Hmm." Pressing her lips together in an unamused expression, Helen tilted her head and looked thoughtfully at him. "Nikola, about what you said earlier…"

"Yes, dear Helen?" Nikola couldn't quite wipe the smile off his face, and figured he was still a little giddy from having his immortality back. Thanks to Helen, it was all thanks to Helen, and even if his little endearments were disguised as more of his smarmy routine, he meant every word.

"You were always yourself, Nikola. As a human, and as a vampire."

"Aww, Helen, what a sweet senti-"

" _Insufferable._ " Her face broke into too fond an expression and too wide a smile for Nikola to feel really offended, but he took the point.

"Good night, Helen," he said. "Sweet dreams. Preferably of me, but whatever makes you happy…"

"Good night, Nikola," Helen said, suppressed laughter in her voice. "Remember this isn't my Sanctuary, so go straight to bed. No raiding the wine cellar."

"I'm sure she could spare a few –"

Helen shut the door.

"Ok," Nikola muttered. "Straight to bed."

* * *

She made enough of their animal plasma and nutrient mixture to tide Nikola over for at least another day. After that, Helen went to bed herself, stopping by Pili's office on the way to thank her again for her hospitality. She also foraged for a cup of hot tea and picked up a book from the library while she was headed over to her guest room.

The Sanctuary was completely silent – she didn't run into a soul other than Pili while walking around. Helen ordinarily enjoyed a peaceful night, but she would admit today had rattled her somewhat, and tonight the silence seemed oppressive rather than comforting. She found herself missing Nikola and his distracting chatter; she could have used the company.

After a quick shower, Helen settled into bed and sipped her tea, closing her eyes in appreciation of its soothing warmth. As was her custom before she went to sleep, she opened her book and began to read, but her eyes kept unfocusing, her thoughts wandering away. It had been a long, long day, and try as she might, Helen couldn't quiet her mind.

These little outings she sometimes had with Nikola never seemed to go the way they were supposed to – he had always possessed a gift for complicating things. For that matter, even when they didn't go out, complicated things happened all the same. After all, they'd nearly blown up her house the last time they'd had a quiet night in.

Helen loved adventure; she thrilled at the unknown. Nikola did too, which was part of why they got along so well. (Most of the time.) That was what today was supposed to have been. Instead, she had come close, terrifyingly close, to losing him – another person she cared for had almost been snatched away.

It had been incredibly pointless, as death so often was in Helen's experience. He'd almost died, simply because he'd been careless, rushing in and not taking the shield off sooner, because they had relied on an outdated map that hadn't warned them about the fort being taken by vampires, maybe because she hadn't been quick enough to warn him.

The helplessness, though, that was what stuck with Helen the most. She'd built her entire life around saving people, and this was Nikola: her oldest friend, and in many ways her best friend. She should have been able to do _something_. But until she had found Afina's crystal tomb, she'd had to just stand there and watch him die, knowing there was absolutely nothing she could do to save him.

After the discovery of the tomb, the situation had shifted. Helen had cooked up her plan to save Nikola almost on the spot, but she'd had an impossibly small sliver of time to do it in. Even so, if he had died then, when there was a real chance of saving him, she couldn't have helped but feel responsible. And he nearly had; Helen knew it had come down to mere minutes, maybe even less. If the crystal had been just a little tougher, if she had happened to read a different pillar first…

Helen's jaw clenched, the desperation that she'd felt in the tomb bubbling to the surface, and she gripped her book a little tighter, refocusing on the letters. She turned a page, ignoring the fact that she hadn't absorbed a single word on the last one.

This was ridiculous, she told herself. Nikola was fine. She'd been bickering with him only hours ago, and he was just down the hall, no doubt fast asleep and dreaming happily of world domination by now. But her earlier contentment in the lab, when Nikola had been safe in front of her, seemed distant.

Helen took another sip of tea, the cup clattering onto the saucer when she put it down as her hands shook slightly. She inhaled deeply, once again trying to read, but instead of the text swimming vaguely in front of her, all she could focus on were the images she'd pushed to the back of her mind up till now, when they had been jarred loose. They came rushing towards her, as sharp and clear as if she were still living them.

Nikola, with that blank, confused expression fixed on his face after the laser shot, looking at her in an almost pleading way. Nikola, in a rare burst of unselfishness, actually trying his damnedest to convince her she had done everything she could for him.

Nikola trembling in her arms and spilling blood everywhere as she helped him over to the crystal, just because he valued knowledge and discovery above all else. Nikola crumpled on the ground, pale, cold, unmoving, that spark in him that she treasured so dearly fading away right in front of her.

There had been a moment back there when she'd started to say his name, trying to keep him awake, his attention focused on her. But he had been so clearly beyond her reach, and the thought had struck Helen suddenly, like a physical blow that sent all the oxygen out of her lungs, that they would never talk – she would never hear his voice again. No more banter, both of them delighting in the snappy back-and-forth, no more enthusing with each other about their scientific pursuits. Her conversations with Nikola crackled with an energy that she had yet to find with anyone else.

Nikola could often be insensitive and over-the-top, but he knew perfectly how to cheer her up, and when she needed it. And no matter how much they clashed and quarreled, they were always there for each other. He had a way of saying her name, suffused with so much love and trust…

The silence in the Sanctuary was suddenly too oppressive. Before she quite realized it she was up and moving, already through her door and halfway down the hall on her way to Nikola's room.

* * *

Nikola opened the door with his hand on his hip, looking like he was tired and trying to hide it. His hair stuck up at even odder angles than usual; she had certainly woken him up. He had at least changed out of his bloody, ruined clothes, though into such a similar outfit that Helen couldn't imagine he had been planning on going to sleep right away: she suspected that he had been about to wander around the Sanctuary despite her orders, but dozed off instead. She was relieved he had changed, though – she wasn't especially keen at the moment on seeing any more reminders of what had happened today.

"Helen?" His voice was a little fuzzy, but his gaze sharpened as he looked her over. "Are you alright?"

Thinking about it now, perhaps she shouldn't have come. This had been a ridiculous idea. Though it hadn't been an idea, really, more of an impulse, a need to see him alive and well again before she could rest. Still, if she weren't careful, Nikola would catch on very quickly, no matter how tired he was.

"I'm fine," she lied. She'd lost track of how many times she'd told that same lie over the years. "How are you feeling?"

"Uh, fine." Nikola pinched the bridge of his nose, shaking his head slightly in an obvious attempt to clear it. "Was there any particular reason why you thought I wouldn't be? An enthusiastic invasion of vampire hunters, perhaps, ripped straight from the pages of popular literature?"

He was fully awake now. Helen could always measure how alert he was by the amount of smart remarks he made.

"Really, Nikola, after all your wheedling and everything that's happened, I'd have thought you would be the last person to argue with me over looking in on you." She kept her tone level, only a hint of her earlier feelings creeping through.

"Aww, Helen," he said, smiling broadly. "You felt the need to check on me, at three in the morning? How kind of you – I always knew you cared." His tone was light. "Well, don't worry, the vampire hunters won't get me. I wouldn't dream of being in mortal peril unless you were around to save me."

Helen only stared at him, struggling to keep her expression from changing. He was being so flippant, just as he always was. She had been losing sleep over what had almost happened to him today, and here he stood breezily cracking jokes, clearly thinking she could brush it off as lightly as he seemed to be doing.

After all, why wouldn't he? Helen made it a point to conceal the depth of her feelings for him behind a wall of sarcasm whenever she could. And for all that he had an ego the size of a planet, Nikola had always found it curiously easy to believe the worst about her opinion of him.

"As you can see, I'm perfectly fine." He ran a hand through his hair, frowning. "My sense of style is the only thing in danger at the moment."

Helen felt her jaw tighten. More quips.

"You're impossible." Helen had intended it to be a teasing retort, after which she would raise her eyebrows at him and be on her way; they'd played the same scene out a million times before. But it came out harsh and disbelieving instead.

Nikola had the audacity to look offended. "What?"

"You nearly died," she said sharply. "And you're treating this as if it's some sort of joke."

"When have you ever known me to do anything else?" He sounded infuriatingly casual, even now. "Besides, it all turned out so spectacularly."

"Spectacularly _?_ " she echoed.

"Yeah, ok, it was incredibly painful at the time," Nikola conceded. "But I've been working towards this ever since that unfortunate business last year, and if a little excruciating pain is the price I have to pay to become a vampire again, I would pay it a thousand times over. You know that, Helen. Come on, you can hardly blame me for feeling a little invulnerable right now." He actually grinned.

" _Invulnerable_?" The volume of her voice was rising. It was just as well they were in the guest wing, away from everyone else. "This wasn't some sort of master plan. You were bleeding out in front of me not twelve hours ago." Helen swallowed. "Invulnerable is not the word I would use. _Lucky_ , perhaps."

"To have you," he said, but Helen wasn't in the mood for his ridiculous lines right now.

"Don't," she snapped. Nikola actually stepped back, the smile evaporating off his face. "If you're incapable of taking this seriously, then so be it. But kindly refrain from acting like I don't."

"Never fear, Helen, no one could begin to accuse you of that." He was beginning to sound strained.

"You were dying, Nikola." Helen fought to keep her voice steady. "Another minute, and you would have."

"I know I was unconscious, but I think I remember that much. Did I miss anything else exciting? A final kiss, some last few passionate words?" From his tone, even Nikola apparently couldn't decide if he were being flip, bitter, or genuinely curious.

Neither of Nikola's scenarios had happened, but Helen recalled again the moment when she'd had the breath knocked out of her – how she'd ordered him not to die – because she couldn't stand to lose him.

She must have waited just a little too long to answer, or maybe it was the way she avoided looking directly at him, because Nikola's eyes had widened and he suddenly looked so uncertain and hopeful that something in Helen's chest twisted painfully.

"Do you honestly believe I care so little about you that I can watch you die, over and over again – " Colombia burst into Helen's mind, those few terrible minutes when she had thought he was gone forever – "and brush it aside without a second thought?" Her voice was quiet now.

A long moment stretched out while they looked at each other in silence. Nikola's expression had softened even further, and he took a tentative step forward.

"Helen," he whispered, apology radiating from him.

Helen closed the distance between them, reaching for him and pulling him into her arms. Nikola's hands hovered hesitantly at her side for a moment before he returned her embrace tightly, pressing his lips against her hair in what he probably thought was a subtle way.

She hugged him closer, burying her face in his neck. He was warm, so reassuringly warm; it enveloped her, the memory of his clammy skin in Afina's tomb melting away with every brush of his mouth against the side of her head. She could feel him breathing, a little quicker than usual, but the rhythm soothed her anyway.

"Nikola," she said softly, her voice muffled by his collar. She inhaled deeply, almost wishing she would have let him roam around looking for wine. Ordinarily, he smelled quite strongly of it, and Helen missed the familiar scent.

Nikola sighed, resting his head against hers. "Some doctor you are," he said.

Helen managed to snort at the non-sequitur. "Excuse me?"

"Well, you tell me to rest, and then you immediately wake me up. I need my beauty sleep, you know."

He was trying to divert her thoughts, to cheer her up, and Helen let him. There was familiarity in that, too.

"Beauty sleep, is that so?" Helen reached a hand up to run through his soft hair, even messier than usual, stroking her fingers through it to smooth it down a little before resting them on Nikola's neck. "Besides, I practically had to push you out of the lab myself before you would go to bed."

"Cut me some slack, Helen, I'm tired. You woke me up, so my inconsistent logic is your fault anyway."

"Ah, well, if you're so exhausted, I'll just be on my way then," she said, dropping her hand from his neck and pulling away. She kissed his cheek. "Get plenty of rest."

"…What?" Nikola's startled, put-out look was pure gold. Helen would have chuckled heartily at it any other time.

"Sorry, Nikola," she said, smiling a little.

Nikola closed his mouth, giving her a sarcastic smile. "You know, leaving a patient in need is even worse than interrupting their rest," he said.

"Oh? You look perfectly healthy to me, what exactly are you in need of?"

"Really, Helen? I thought you said you weren't going to let me get away with terrible lines," he said. There was a bright note in his voice Helen didn't hear very often.

Helen smiled. "So I did," she said.

And she took his face in her hands and kissed him tenderly, sliding her hands down to his neck, running her fingers again through the shorter hair at the base of it. His lips were soft against hers, parting a little as he leaned forward. When she pulled away, his eyebrows were knit together, and as she watched him, his eyes flickered open, looking at her with such undisguised adoration Helen felt her breath catch.

"Oh, bloody hell," Helen muttered, and before Nikola could comment on her catch phrase usage, she seized him by the lapels, yanking him nearer to crush their lips together again, one hand splaying across his back to hold him tightly against her, the other burying itself deep in his hair. Nikola clutched her to him, pressing into her and returning her kiss with an almost desperate energy.

Still kissing him, she kicked the door shut, backing him into the wall, her hands skimming down his shoulders to work on the buttons of his waistcoat. Nikola flicked his hand, sending them flying across the room haphazardly, his belt following.

Helen was expecting a witty remark about how he'd been waiting to do that for ages, but Nikola had apparently figured out at long last that he could put his mouth to much better use.

It was almost a shame, because Helen had her own retort, about how she'd been waiting even longer to do this, all planned out. As she dropped her lips to his neck, Nikola shivered, his breath hitching, and Helen amended her opinion.

Witty remarks could wait.

* * *

Nikola woke up first.

That was an unusual occurrence – most of the time Helen was the one who was up and about bright and early. But yesterday had taken a toll on her, too, and she couldn't rely on being freshly revamped for extra energy. Now, she slept on in Nikola's arms despite the late morning light peeking in through the windows, spilling over their bed in narrow beams.

Last night, Nikola had realized he had been thoughtless in more ways than one; he had been so wrapped up in his revamping issues and exhilaration and everything else, he'd completely forgotten that Helen had endured just as much as he had. Proof of it was written rather obviously right in front of him – Afina had left welts and bruises all over Helen's skin, running from her neck and shoulders down to her ribs. After seeing them, Nikola privately felt even more satisfied about Afina getting blown straight to hell. He had tried as best he could to avoid them last night: he thought he had been remarkably successful, in that and his attempts to make up for his behavior yesterday. He grinned slightly.

Nikola was still processing Helen's reaction to his near death; he thought he would be for a while. He had barely dared to hope that any of his optimistic speculation about her actions would turn out to be true, but here they were.

He stroked his thumb gently, almost reverently, across one of the bruises on her shoulder, making sure his touch was light enough that she wouldn't feel any pressure. There was a faint scar here, too, that it was covering – not from yesterday. This one was much older. Nikola was familiar with most of Helen's scars, though she had acquired some new ones since he'd last had an opportunity to see them.

They always reminded Nikola that Helen had dedicated her life to the protection of others, regardless of the danger, and he swallowed, looking down at her face. She really was incredible – she knocked him off his feet every time he so much as looked at her. When they were at Oxford, he remembered thinking with an admittedly naive burst of youthful fervor that he would never get used to it. Still, Nikola thought he'd say the same now, even a hundred years later. He leaned over and kissed her on the top of her head. If Helen were awake, she'd probably roll her eyes (fondly) at how extraordinarily sappy he was being – and she would be right, he'd thought it was bad _yesterday_ – but she wasn't awake, so he kissed her again.

Helen was curled up on him contentedly, her head resting on his chest to allow her to hear his heartbeat. She had sought out that position last night, nestling against him before she fell asleep. It was unusually sentimental of her, but Nikola didn't mind at all; in fact, Helen wanting to listen to his heart beating while she slept made Nikola lightheaded in a way that had nothing to do with hunger.

She stirred, shifting slightly on him and sighing, and her eyes opened slowly.

"Hello," he said softly, brushing his thumb across her temple. It wasn't his best line, but it was about as good as he could manage at the moment.

Helen propped herself up on her elbow, gazing at him with a warm smile. "Hello," she said. Nikola's hand had dropped to his ribs, and she covered it with hers. "Feeling alright?"

"Never better, thanks to your remarkably enthusiastic ministrations." He smiled brightly. "And how are you this morning?"

Instead of answering, she rested her hand on his cheek, turning his head and peering closely at him. "How's the appetite?" she asked.

"Nothing I can't handle." He waved a hand, giving her a slow grin. "Not enough to leave the blissful comfort of your arms, dear Helen." There was an enjoyable sentence. Nikola closed his eyes briefly, savoring it.

Rolling her eyes but apparently satisfied, Helen let herself fall back against the pillow next to him, sighing and stretching her arms.

Smirking, Nikola leaned over. "We could stay in bed all day if you wanted," he whispered.

She chuckled. "Oh, you'd like that, wouldn't you?"

"To be fair, I think we could both use a little vacation," he pointed out.

Helen wrapped an arm around him, snuggling back into his side. "You know how I feel about vacations, Nikola," she said.

"Come on, Helen, sleeping in is good for you every once in a while. Live a little. But if it helps, then think of it as looking after your patient," he said, affecting a theatrically pathetic tone. "I feel weak…"

Snorting ungraciously, Helen buried her face in the pillow to muffle her laughter. "My God, Nikola, that's terrible."

"Whatever works," he said, grinning.

"Well then," she said with mock gravity, "I would hate to abandon a patient." She settled back against him, closing her eyes, and Nikola wound his arm around her.

Her hand rested lightly on his abdomen, fingers brushing absently against his skin in looping circles. It didn't escape Nikola's notice that Helen was choosing to caress the exact location of his almost fatal wound the day before, though his healing abilities meant there was no visible mark left on him. Sliding his hand over hers and interlacing their fingers, Nikola kissed her forehead.

"Helen," he said after a few minutes in silence, a thought occurring to him with delight.

"Yes, Nikola?"

"I take it this means you don't think I'm obnoxious and insufferable anymore," he said impishly.

Helen laughed again, raising herself back up to look at him. "Oh no, I still believe that," she said, sounding mischievous. Before he could respond, she cupped his face, stroking his cheek with her thumb. Her amused smile melted into sincerity.

"I wouldn't have you any other way," she said simply, and leaned down to kiss him, lingering in a way that Nikola thought he could get rather used to.

Just as he was starting to really get comfortable, Helen pulled away and rolled off of him. "I'm going to have a shower," she announced, casting a look at him behind her.

He barely heard her; her earlier words had transfixed him, echoing through his head with a pleasant weight, and the taste of her lips was still fresh on his.

"Nikola," Helen said. He blinked, finally looking over to find her appearing highly amused, her hand outstretched expectantly.

It didn't take long for a smirk to spread over his face. "What about my convalescence?" he asked, taking her hand and making a bit of a show of slowly struggling to his feet.

She laughed, her eyes sparkling. "I think you'll be fine for a little while. Besides, some exercise will do you good."

"What sort of exercise did you have in mind?" Still smirking, Nikola leaned in a nice and dramatic heavy fashion upon the bedside table as Helen pulled him to his feet. His fingers brushed the lamp sitting on its surface.

He was also still watching Helen, delighting in the way her face was lighting up because of him; he noticed as soon as her expression shifted into one of surprise.

"Nikola," she said, looking at the lamp and dropping his hand.

Nikola glanced down, his eyebrows furrowing, and then his mouth dropped open. "Oh," he said.

Helen had turned it off last night, leaning over him in a really quite enjoyable way to reach the small chain. Neither of them had given another thought to it since, except just now, when he had inadvertently touched it on his way out of bed.

The light was on, shining weakly through the bright morning sun. Nikola looked at his hand, then back at the light, then at Helen, watching him with clear joy.

"Well," he said, beaming. "I can work with that."

He offered his hand to Helen. "But first," he said, "I believe we have a vacation to enjoy."

Helen took his hand. "So we do. A short one, mind you," she warned him, smiling.

Nikola grinned. "Of course. Unless you don't think you'll be able to tear yourself away from me."

"Oh, shut up and come here."


	10. Dimensional Tolerance

**A/N: Set right after Resistance. I swear I'll get back to (mostly) fluff in the next chapter. Enjoy!**

* * *

"Hey Fenrir, don't run off without this." Nikola practically shoved Henry's tablet at him. "This has Sanctuary files on it, for God's sake. Are all you people so blasé about leaving critical information in the lair of your enemy? The incompetence…"

Henry took the tablet a little defensively. "I guess I was a little busy being almost eaten by the evil From Beyond Beholder you had roaming the halls back there."

"That's no excuse," Nikola insisted. "Even if Helen took it upon herself to passionately kiss me right now, you still wouldn't be able to pry something this important out of my hands."

Henry wrinkled his nose, making a noise somewhere between "ugh" and "ew."

"Anyway," Nikola continued, ignoring him, "your tablet's outdated, you should get Helen to give you some cash to upgrade…"

Helen watched them from where she stood a little off to the side, having already gathered all of her things together. Her arms were crossed, her fingers tapping restlessly on her arm. After their close call earlier, Helen was more than happy to keep both of them in sight, but Nikola was proving to be just as difficult to deal with as she remembered.

His betrayal – contentedly working for _SCIU_ , of all things – stung, possibly more than he realized. For Nikola, it had only been a few months since they'd seen each other. It was somewhat difficult to sort it all out, but Helen supposed the last time by his reckoning was after their trip to Africa, last year for him, nearly 114 years ago for her.

Despite everything, Helen couldn't help but smile a little, thinking about that time they'd spent together meandering home from the Cairo Sanctuary the long way around. It seemed short now, after a century had passed for Helen, but they had certainly stretched it out as much as they could at the time. They had parted warmly; that was the word she would use, though privately she would admit it had been more than warm. It had been – a beginning, though of what, neither of them was exactly sure.

Helen hadn't had much to look forward to other than the completion of her work over the last hundred years, which seemed to drag on yet never give her quite enough time to prepare for reliving her darkest days, completely alone. Among the few things she had been able to anticipate with absolute, unmarred joy was seeing her dear friends in the present again, Nikola included – along with whatever they'd begun in Africa, however uncertain.

She had missed them all terribly. The odd thing was, she shouldn't have missed Nikola – she had gone to see his past self, perhaps more than she really should have, considering her constant efforts to not alter the timeline too much. But she trusted herself around Nikola in a way that she didn't around anyone else from her past, always fearing that she would slip up, tell one of them some crucial bit of information that would keep them alive just a little bit longer: she'd lost so many people dear to her, and the chance to alter history was so tempting Helen had nearly given in more than once. Around Nikola, one of the few (and the only one, until more recent years) who was still alive in the present, she didn't have to worry about that particular danger.

But Helen never had the luxury of losing herself for just a little while in familiarity – she had always believed that Nikola had remained essentially unchanging over the last century, but she had been wrong. He _was_ different, in ways that she had never noticed over the natural course of time but were almost painfully obvious to her now, and it wasn't the same around him any longer. She could never be completely honest with him, and he could always tell.

Besides that, there was something subtly different about their past relationship and the one they had in the present. They had fallen apart during the sixty years that Nikola had been absent, and Helen had thought that over the years preceding her trip backwards in time, they had only rebuilt what they had lost, regaining their former warmth and closeness. But she had realized that they had built something else, too; it eluded Helen every time she tried to put a name on it, but the fact remained that Nikola in the past just wasn't quite _her_ Nikola anymore.

It made sense – after all, she was no longer the person she had been back then either – but she had missed her Nikola. She had imagined that when they saw each other again, Nikola would be torn between wanting to know all about time travel and its inherent coolness, and worrying about all that time she'd spent alone. He would understand, if no one else living could, how very, very long the years could be.

Perhaps, Helen had thought, they could even pick up where they'd left off before. Of course, he'd done _this_ instead.

At least he had shut his experiments down, and promised her afterwards to be more careful in the future with other people's lives (whether that promise would be kept remained to be seen.) And it wasn't as if he were enamored with SCIU either; in fact, he seemed quite enthusiastic about making off with as much of their money as he could, even if Helen found his "fighting from the inside" motivations a little hard to buy. Regardless, he _was_ still working for them, and had made it clear he planned to keep doing so.

Which meant that, for the first time in a long, long time, they were working against each other. Not just separately pursuing their individual goals, which occasionally clashed, but actively opposed to one another.

"Alright, do you finally have everything?" Nikola asked Henry, his tone some bizarre cross between supremely annoyed and over-concerned parent.

"Yeah, yeah," Henry said. "Are you sure you don't want us to stick around and help you with clean-up, damage control, anything?"

Nikola waved a hand. "Nah, I'll just make my staff do everything."

Henry looked doubtful, rolling his eyes a bit, but shrugged. "Hey, doc, I think we're ready to go."

They both turned to her, Nikola dodging direct eye contact.

Helen nodded. "Very well. Let's not waste any time." Nikola had already called ahead to the few people remaining in their way after the creature's attack to let them pass, so she started towards the door.

She didn't want to leave without saying _something_ to Nikola, but she also didn't want to leave on an angry note, which was what she had a feeling it would turn into if she did talk to him. It was better to go now, after successfully rescuing Henry had at least made them friendly if awkward again, than to let things dissolve into another argument with no resolution in sight.

At least, that was what Helen told herself. There was a tiny part of her that suspected she just didn't want to tell him goodbye.

A rather surprised look crossed Henry's face before he followed her. They were almost out of the lab when Henry muttered, "Uh, doc…"

At the same time, Nikola called out from behind them. "Oh come on, Helen, you're not really going to just leave like that, are you?" He darted towards them, catching up to them in a second with that inhuman speed of his.

Helen turned. "What would you like me to say, Nikola?" she said, unable to keep a degree of bitterness from her voice. "You refuse to stop working for these people; you know how opposed I am to them and their goals."

"I – " Nikola lifted his hands and let them fall again, motioning behind him helplessly. Henry had backed off to the side, giving them a little space.

"You've seen this place, Helen. I've been able to do research here that I could only dream of before." He looked at her intently, as if he was trying to make her understand.

Helen sighed. "Do what you will, Nikola," she said tiredly. "It's your decision. Only…think about it, please."

He gave her a miniscule nod.

"And thank you for saving Henry," she added, some genuine warmth creeping back into her voice. That needed to be said, at any rate.

"Yeah, thanks again," Henry put in.

"My pleasure," he said, a hint of his usual smug smile returning. "Almost getting strangled by a tentacled creature from another plane of existence was the highlight of my day. Speaking of that, thanks, by the way," he said to Helen.

"You're welcome," she told him, and before she could say anything else Nikola had wrapped himself around her, hugging her so tightly she could barely move. Henry coughed, and from out of the corner of her eye, Helen could see him looking at the floor as if it were the most interesting thing in the world.

"Don't think too badly of me," Nikola whispered, low enough for Henry not to overhear.

Helen closed her eyes and allowed herself to lean into him, taking a deep breath. "Oh, Nikola," she murmured. "You really are impossible."

"That's why you like me," he said, his voice thick.

Helen folded her arms around him, her eyes still closed, and tried not to think about how this might be the last time she'd see him for a long time. She wanted very badly all of a sudden to ask him again to leave SCIU and come back with her – right now, in this moment, she was almost certain he would.

But that had to be a decision Nikola made on his own, and Helen still had enough faith in him to believe that he would, eventually. So she didn't say anything, but she held onto him tightly, for much longer than she had been planning to.

Nikola rocked a little back and forth, still clinging to her, his head bowed to her shoulder, but he released her without a word when she reluctantly let go of him at last. They looked at each other for a moment; then he settled his hands gently on her shoulders, leaning forward, and kissed her.

It was a short kiss, and a very light one, a marked contrast to the way they'd said their farewells after Africa. Helen's eyes closed again anyway, her hands finding their way to his neck, and she pressed into him, even more unwilling to say goodbye now than she had been then.

Nikola was the one who pulled away first. "Helen," he said. His voice was soft, and he looked at her earnestly. "Please be safe."

They'd hardly had a chance to talk at all – she hadn't mentioned any of her plans to him yet – but he still knew without asking that there was something out of the ordinary coming.

"You know me," Helen said, giving him a reassuring pat on the arm, her hand lingering for just a second too long.

"Yes, exactly," he said wryly.

"Then I should say, likewise," she said. "Be careful here, Nikola. These people are more dangerous than you realize."

He managed to grin a little. "Sure you don't want to stick around to keep an eye on me?"

Helen smiled back at him. "You'll be fine." She touched his cheek. "Vampire, remember?" She stroked it once, thumb brushing the dimple from his wavery smile, then dropped her hand, backing away.

"Goodbye, Nikola," she said. Her words were very quiet.

"…Helen," Nikola said with difficulty. He looked as if he were about to say something else, but closed his mouth, inclining his head before tilting it back up to hold her gaze. After another moment, Helen spun around before the look on his face made her stay any longer.

She could feel his eyes on her all the way to the door.

* * *

 **A/N: I go back and forth on whether or not I think Helen and Tesla were officially together at any point in the past - I love it either way, so I tried to keep it mostly open-ended here. Helen's thoughts about Past!Nikola were prompted by the fact that I imagine whether they were or weren't together, it would still be jarring to get thrown back in time to be around someone she knew that well before most of the things that made him the person she knew had even happened.**


	11. Return Path

**A/N: Set during Chimera. I may have went a little overboard with the fluff on this one to make up for the last chapter. (There's also a very small SG1 reference.)**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

When Helen walked into her office, Nikola was kneeling on the floor between two of the armchairs, fiddling with the device they would use to connect their minds to the computer. His back was to the door, and he didn't bother looking up.

"Come to see how hard at work I am? You'll notice I'm not even drinking your wine," he said without turning around to see her. Nikola had always enjoyed showing off his vampiric powers, and he had only gotten worse about it since being revamped.

"Yes, I appreciate how very seriously you're taking the situation," Helen said dryly. "Especially the part where you and Henry argued about which movie it most resembles for ten minutes." She looked around. "Where is he, by the way?"

"I sent him off the lab to fetch some equipment," Nikola said, crawling around to the other side of the computers and finally looking at her. "How about that? Alone at last."

Helen rolled her eyes. "Do you need my help with anything?" She had just finished preparing the system for what they were about to try, and decided it wouldn't hurt to see if Nikola and Henry needed any assistance. Judging from the current state of her office, though, Nikola was nearly done.

"Well, you know I usually never have any trouble thinking up activities for us to enjoy together, but –" He paused, grinning slowly. "Actually, now that you mention it, there _is_ something just the two of us need to do tonight…"

"Dear lord, Nikola." Helen exhaled heavily. "Now is hardly the time –" She stopped. Nikola was chuckling.

"My, my. You have a filthy mind, Helen," he said with delight. "I was referring to helping you solve this unfortunate Sanctuary crisis. What did _you_ think I was proposing?"

Helen pursed her lips with a withering look. "I hope you're going to test that thing before we download our brains into it," she said, gesturing to the device.

Nikola's overjoyed look at her less-than-subtle redirection dissolved into a somewhat more professional expression. "I already have. We're a little low on time, so I wasn't able to do anything very extensive, but it'll work."

"You're sure of that?" Helen asked.

"Helen," he said, raising his eyebrows. "It's me. Now all I have to do is make sure this'll work with your extraordinary brain as well as mine. I'd hate to heroically face this uncertain danger all by myself, just to save your Sanctuary…" He tilted his head thoughtfully. "You know, that actually doesn't sound too bad."

Helen shook her head, speaking with finality. "You're not going in alone. What do you need?"

Nikola looked up from his work, meeting Helen's eyes as the side of his mouth curved up in a half-smile. "Have a seat," he said, waving at the chair nearest him.

Helen sat down, watching Nikola untangle a headset with blue lights glowing at each end from the mass of wires and cables around him. Pulling it free, he got to his feet and went to stand behind her, then bent over and set it gently above her ears. His fingers brushed against her temples while he was adjusting it, lingering for just a second before he lifted his hands away.

"Your crown, my lady," he murmured. "Nice touch of symbolism that it involves electricity, isn't it?"

Helen snorted. "Blimey, you're in fine form tonight."

"Why, thank you Helen. I really think I'm onto something here though," he said, grinning. "Let's see: you go wherever you have to, kicking everyone's ass along the way. That's the definition of a queen."

"Remember that unfortunate Sanctuary crisis you were just taking so seriously?" Helen pointed out, though she was laughing.

"Which one was that?" he asked, but he went back to peer at the displays.

Nikola glanced at her as he began fiddling with his equipment again. "So Heinrich has been filling me in on some of the crazy stuff that's happened while I've been away," he said conversationally, then hesitated.

Helen could tell he desperately wanted to ask her about some of what she had experienced since the last time they'd really talked, her relived century no doubt first on the list. But even Nikola knew this wasn't the time, and an uncertain look had crept onto his face, as if he wasn't sure she would tell him if he asked.

So, in true Nikola fashion, he said instead, "He was a little vague on the details, though – mind telling me why you were all singing your conversations a few weeks ago?"

"Oh, dear Lord," Helen said, her lips twitching in spite of herself. "I thought we had all made an unconscious pact to never speak of the singing again."

"Are you kidding? That sounds great," he said. "Shame I wasn't here, though. I could have sung for you all night, dear Helen."

"I'm not so sure," she said. "Coming up with music, lyrics, all on the spur of the moment? It's not as easy as you'd think."

"Not if you do a cover," Nikola said triumphantly. He started humming. "Someday," he muttered in a singsong way, "when I'm awfully low…"

He looked at Helen, a grin spreading over his face as his voice got louder. "I will feel a glow, just thinking oooooooof youuuuuuu –"

"Alright," she interrupted him, holding up a hand. "I get the picture. Next time we're all forced to sing to each other, I'll make sure I give you a call."

"Thanks. I'd expect nothing less."

He worked quietly for a minute, the equipment scattered around them beeping in the background. There was an easiness about this silence that had been conspicuously absent in their last encounter. This was closer to the way they usually were around each other; this was her Nikola, and for the first time since Helen had resumed her life in the present, it seemed as if they had been properly reunited.

Now really wasn't the time – but later, perhaps, once this situation was dealt with and they had time to talk, she would tell him what he'd missed. There was so much, even from just his time, not to mention her extra hundred years. She couldn't tell him everything, not yet, but she could at least share some of it with him, and after a century of keeping it all secret, it might almost be a relief.

"Aren't you at all concerned about SCIU finding out you're here?" she asked after a while.

His eyes flicked over to her. "In bed with the enemy?"

Helen gave him a look.

"Figuratively," he added with a smirk. "And no, not really. After all, I blatantly embezzled all of the money they granted me. It's not really too hard to fool them if you know how. I can explain a day or two of absence, no problem. I'll say I got drunk, or discovered an alternate reality. Maybe both."

She closed her eyes, feeling an urge to pinch the bridge of her nose. Where to begin with a statement like that? "You can't get drunk," she pointed out.

"Yeah, but they don't know that," Nikola said cheerfully. "I'm the only vampire in the world, remember? If I say their data is wrong, who are they to argue with me? You'd be surprised how much mileage I've gotten out of that."

"I doubt that very much," she said. "But while we're on the subject of SCIU's data…"

"Mmm?"

"Everything you sent with Henry," she said, and he looked up immediately, his hands freezing in mid-air. "It's incredible, Nikola, thank you. It's going to be very helpful – it's already been helpful, as a matter of fact."

As usual, Nikola had gone overboard. They were still making their way through the extensive collection of SCIU's files that he had given them, but Helen was fairly sure they included quite a few things Nikola wasn't even supposed to know about.

"Good," he said after a moment. "That was the idea."

"But you could have given it to me in person, at SCIU's facility in New Mexico," she said. "If it was your intention to help me all along, why did you let me walk out of there thinking we were on opposite sides?" It had troubled her, more than she had shown to Henry, the thought that she and Nikola were enemies.

"Oh, lots of reasons," Nikola said. He was trying to sound flippant, but he was looking steadily at her, and his hands were still motionless. "For one thing, I know how attractive you find me when I'm acting tragically noble." He grinned.

Helen fixed her eyes on him coolly. "The real reason, if you don't mind."

"Alright," he said. "Fine. I had to make your righteous exit look as genuine as possible. SCIU's not exactly overflowing with trust in me. I cleared you to leave, but if they'd even had an inkling about what we were up to… Well, getting you shot might have put a damper on the wonderful day I was having and I didn't really want to take the chance. I wouldn't be a very effective defector if all my secret information smuggling got discovered before you made it out the door, now would I?"

"Defector?" Helen repeated. "So you've quit working for them? I must not have been paying attention." She raised her eyebrows at Nikola, giving him a sarcastic smile.

"It's so much more exciting like this, don't you think?" Nikola said. "This way I can be your vampire on the inside. Now we can have steamy, clandestine rendezvous filled with forbidden passion in seedy hotels – not too seedy, though, I expect a decent wine selection."

"I'm glad you have all this planned out," Helen said, amused.

He shrugged. "I like to be prepared."

"Or perhaps," she said, leaning towards him, "you just don't want to give up the expense account and the company jet."

"Maybe," he admitted. A mischievous smile flickered over his face. "Can you blame me for trying to have the best of both worlds?"

"You're going to have to actually choose a side, you know," she told him. "Sooner rather than later."

"Yeah, yeah." Nikola patted the monitor. "I'm all done. We'll be ready to go as soon as wolf-boy decides to get here. What's taking him so long, anyway?"

Nikola had probably loaded Henry down with too many requests, but Helen ignored his attempt to change the subject.

"Nikola."

He sighed. "I know… Goodbye, cutting edge laboratory and billions of dollars to play with. But until then," he added, brightening, "I can drain SCIU's bank account for my own research _and_ help you. Face it, Helen, right now I'm more useful to you like this."

"I could use an inside line to SCIU's operations," she said. "Still…" She would have preferred not to spend the entire time traveling back under the impression that she had lost her best friend. She took the headset off and left the chair, kneeling on the floor next to him.

"You should have given me some idea of what you were planning while I was there," she said softly, laying her hand on his wrist.

The corners of Nikola's eyes crinkled as he smiled at her. "Why, was there something you would have done differently?"

Helen laughed, shaking her head. "Now you're just being difficult."

"That _is_ kinda what I do," Nikola pointed out, and anything else he had planned on saying was cut short by Helen's mouth on his as she caught him by the shoulders and kissed him.

Nikola melted into her, his arms winding around her, fingers tangling in her hair. Their awkward half-kneeling position didn't lend itself well to this, but they crushed themselves against each other with as much force as they could anyway. Neither of them cared much when their unsteady balance faltered and they fell sideways onto the floor, the impact jarring them apart, though their arms were still wrapped around each other.

Nikola had twisted to take the brunt of the fall, but he was grinning. "Well, that was fun," he said, still so close that she could feel the movement of his lips next to hers. "Ouch, though."

Helen rolled onto him, sliding a hand behind his neck to touch where his head struck the floor, letting her fingers run through his hair. "Like me to take a look at it?" she asked, teasing.

"I have a better idea," he said, pulling her against him and kissing her again.

Even with Nikola as a cushion, the floor wasn't the most comfortable surface to lie on, and one of Helen's legs was bent at an awkward angle to avoid the chair right behind them. She could feel her earrings moving slightly, a strangely ticklish sensation and a sign that Nikola's magnetism was acting up again – never a good thing around metal tools and sensitive equipment.

In spite of all that, Helen would have stayed where she was under other circumstances. But even if their work was done until Henry got here, they were still in the middle of a crisis – she had intended this to be brief, but Nikola, as always, had distracted her. Helen was about to disentangle herself from him (with reluctance, even if she wouldn't let him see it) when she heard footsteps near the door. She froze.

"Whoa! Oh God, um." There was a clatter as Henry raised the box he had been carrying in front of his face as quickly as he could.

Helen and Nikola jerked apart so abruptly that Nikola banged his head against the floor again. He tilted it to look at Henry upside down, grimacing slightly.

"Heinrich!" he said, sounding rather stilted. His hands shifted on Helen's back as if he were trying to find a way to hold her that made this less awkward, but Helen could have told him that was a pointless endeavor. Nikola rallied. "Took your sweet time. Do you _want_ Helen's computers to be overrun? Set that down, if you please." A second passed, then: "Oh, by the way, you've forgotten the –"

"I'll get it!" Henry fled. Helen watched him go, wincing.

"Don't feel too bad," Nikola said, looking back up at her and smirking. "You gotta admit it _is_ kind of funny."

Her mouth twitched. "I'll apologize to Henry later," she said. "And so will you."

He rolled his eyes. "Fine. Now where were we?

"You were about to ready the neural interface for use, now that Henry has brought you what you need," she told him.

"Ah, damn it," Nikola said. He looked at her plaintively. "One more, for luck?"

Helen smiled, leaning down to press her lips to his very briefly. She rolled away from him, getting to her feet and offering him a hand. "That'll have to do for now," she said.

"For now?" Nikola echoed, grasping Helen's hand and springing up with enviable energy: Helen's knee was aching slightly. "Works for me."

Raising her eyebrows, Helen gestured at the interface. Nikola nodded, waving a hand.

"Say no more. One virtual reality trip, coming up."

"Thank you," Helen said.

"If this turns out to be really fun, we could do it more often," he said. "You know, let our imaginations really run wild in there…"

Helen sighed. "Let's just worry about saving my computer system first," she said.

"As you wish," he said, grinning.

* * *

 **A/N: The song Nikola starts singing to Helen is "The Way You Look Tonight," and he quotes the Princess Bride at the end, because I couldn't resist. I'm a total sucker for characters + chess comparisons, so I also had to include my Sanctuary version of that.**


	12. Stabilization

**A/N: Post-Sanctuary for None, originally for the prompt "a kiss we had to wait for" though it ended up getting expanded quite a bit past my original idea.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

The new Sanctuary was amazing, Nikola had to admit. There had to be some positively mind-blowing technology at work behind the artificial environment, complete with sunlight, making him feel for all the world as if he were standing on the surface. Then there was that Praxian rail system he had wheedled some details out of Helen about last year, whistling by right over his head. The waterfall was a nice touch too, if a little dramatic.

Of course, he would have expected nothing less from Helen, especially since she'd had over a hundred years to prepare. He still wasn't entirely sure how she'd slipped this one past him, but he was going to have to remember to congratulate her on her concealment skills.

For that matter, he wasn't sure how she'd managed to hide the fact that there were two of her running around there for a while. Two Helens. Nikola was sure that he would come up with a suggestive remark appropriate for the occasion eventually, but his first reaction had been deep unsettlement by the fact that he'd never quite put the pieces together: he, who prided himself on knowing Helen better than anyone. Never mind the fact that he'd believed time travel to be impossible back then – he should have figured it out anyway.

Nikola generally tried to stay away from the giant headache that was time travel, but his curiosity had been piqued once he'd found out Helen had gone back. He'd had to wonder how many of his memories of her were old and how many were new, constructed by Present Helen coming to visit him in the past. Which made her Future Helen. Who was now Present Helen again.

He sighed. Damn time travel.

It was actually kinda flattering, when he thought about it – Helen risking the timeline just to see him. Or to get his (unwitting) help with the new Hollow Earth Sanctuary, but damn it, he was going to get a little more "you missed me" mileage out of it when he saw her again. Not to mention having her hammer out the details of what happened when and with whom.

 _When_ he saw her again. That was a good phrase, Nikola thought, reaching what looked like the main building and pushing open the door. The décor was surprisingly old-fashioned, given the glittering modernity of the exterior, but there was Helen's hand showing through.

He was pretty sure he recognized some of those chandeliers from the old Sanctuary. Helen had had them "replaced" recently. He wondered what else she had been able to save by smuggling it out of the old place: any of the truly excellent wine he'd thought was left in her cellar when the old Sanctuary was destroyed, for starters. He'd have to ask her when he saw her.

There was that phrase again. Nikola, still looking around the entrance hall, leaned against the wall and considered the words. They were beautiful – so beautiful – but he couldn't trust them.

After Helen had destroyed the old Sanctuary, with herself inside… Well, that wasn't something Nikola particularly wanted to think about. When he slept, which wasn't all that often nowadays – even when he just closed his eyes, all he could see were the scenes his mind had convinced him he would find in the ruins. He'd been frantic to disprove them, and if he hadn't had accelerated healing, he was certain he'd still be singed and scratched and bruised from the entire days he'd spent trying. Possibly with some broken bones. Or a lot. He really hadn't been in a safety first kind of mood, with little things like "structural damage" and "half the Sanctuary falling on him" getting tossed straight out the window.

He had spent those days sick with dread at what he might find, but he had dared to let a little flicker of hope in once he found no sign of Helen there. There were really only two other possibilities after that. Though, if neither of those panned out, Nikola didn't have much planned for the next few hundred years apart from getting rid of SCIU: he _was_ going to find Helen, no matter what it took.

The first possibility: Helen was alive and in hiding. She had told him some – not many, but some – details of her plan, and he knew that she was going to try to use Henry's shield to make it out. Telling him that was what had allowed her to persuade him to leave her behind with Caleb. Just the memory of walking away and sealing her in ached enough: Nikola wasn't sure how he'd ever managed to go through with it.

Nikola had been working towards finding the way in to whatever Helen had been hiding in Hollow Earth ever since he figured out she was up to something. After all, he'd known at least one entry point, and he had part of the Praxian database to draw from. He'd been distracted by the Caleb fiasco, but after his search for Helen in the Sanctuary hadn't turned anything up, he'd thrown himself back into it with a single-minded drive. If she were in hiding, it had something to do with Hollow Earth: of that he had been sure.

After another seemingly endless few days of research, he had finally managed to discover one of the passages down to Helen's little segment of Hollow Earth. He hadn't quite been expecting an entire Sanctuary, let alone of this size, but that only reinforced his theory that everything that had happened had been Helen's plan. She had meant to survive that explosion, and come down here to resume her work.

That all left the troubling question of why Helen hadn't contacted him at all, though. Surely, after everything they'd been through together, she wouldn't just leave him hanging like that, thinking she might be dead.

That led him to the second possibility, the one that left no such troubling questions. Nikola shied away from thinking about it every time it occurred to him, which was about twenty times a minute. What if she hadn't made it out of the Sanctuary? She had been working on Hollow Earth for a hundred years: she could have built all this before she resumed her life in the present. By itself, it didn't mean she was still alive. Depending on how close she was to the blast, there may have simply been nothing left for him to find.

Which meant, despite the shiny new Sanctuary staring him in the face and treacherously building up his hopes, it was entirely possible that he would never see Helen again. That she was gone, forever.

He used to thrill at that word, what it meant for his work, but now... Forever seemed so empty without Helen to share it with.

Nikola swallowed and pushed off the wall, hurrying forward and choosing a door at random. Even by his standards, his plan was exceedingly vague – wandering around the Sanctuary or all of Hollow Earth if need be until he found her. But it was all he had.

He almost regretted not bringing Henry along. Even consumed as Nikola was with finding Helen, he had seen how much the idea that her survival had been dependent upon Henry's competence was haunting the kid. But the children were all preoccupied with their own issues, and Nikola preferred working by himself on this one anyway. (Though Henry _had_ tried to make Nikola take better care of himself. Nikola didn't know if it was something he'd come up with on his own or a directive from Helen. Either way, he would privately admit it had been a kind gesture, even if it had been doomed to fail from the get-go.)

So he had come to Hollow Earth alone, and now he was roaming around through a very empty Sanctuary looking for Helen.

He had to admit it was a little weak, speaking from a dramatic point of view. What was he going to do, run into Helen's arms while trying to avoid knocking over the furniture that was still being moved into its final place? Now, that waterfall out front, that was an ideal reunion spot. He could picture it now: the sound of the water rushing, the spray coming up, Helen's hair billowing in the (fake) breeze –

Turning a corner, Nikola froze. There, walking slowly down the hall towards him, nose buried in a tablet, was Helen, looking remarkably alive and well.

He stopped breathing – that sort of thing was usually hyperbole, but as a vampire, he was able to go without oxygen for longer than a human. He'd have to start back up eventually though, and the way it was looking he might not be able to.

She still hadn't seen him, but what should have been time for Nikola to get one of the many passionate speeches he had drawn up in his free moments ready for the occasion was instead time for him to lean against the wall, head spinning. Just another second, he told himself, to clear his head, and then he would –

Helen looked up. She stopped in her tracks, their eyes meeting across the corridor.

Nikola stared back, speechless. He forgot all of those passionate words that seemed so pale and inadequate to the task now. For a single, blissful moment, he even forgot the dread he'd been living with constantly. There were only two thoughts running through his head, blocking everything else out: he loved her, and she was alive.

Managing to lever himself off the wall, he took a shaky step towards Helen.

His legs started working again once he was moving, and as soon as he trusted himself he sprinted to Helen, blurring through the corridor in less than a second and throwing his arms around her with enough force to make them both stumble back a few steps. He took a deep, hungry gulp of air, breathing her in as her arms came up to hold him.

Everywhere he looked, there was proof: the way she smelled, her hair slipping through his fingers, even the pressure of her holstered gun against his leg. Helen was alive. She was real, and alive, and in his arms. Her name tumbled out of him in uneven gasps, and he buried his face in her neck, letting the words play through his head again and again.

She was alive.

* * *

In retrospect, Helen shouldn't have been surprised. It only made sense. Nikola had always been one to go charging off on a whim, and all of the hints she'd dangled in front of him regarding her secret workings in Hollow Earth would have been enough for him to barrel his way down here even without the added motivation of finding out whether she was alive.

Still, she hadn't been expecting him quite so soon. It was dangerous for him to be down here, with SCIU still keeping a close watch on all of her associates; if they'd tracked him somehow…

But it was done now. He was here, and Helen couldn't bring herself to be sorry. For the most part, she was all by herself down here, and it was too reminiscent of her years alone over the last century for Helen to really feel at ease.

She wrapped her arms around Nikola in return, leaning into him, and stood there with him for a long time. Nikola didn't give any indication of letting go of her any time soon, though he had fallen completely silent. Helen couldn't blame him – she wasn't quite sure what to say either.

Perhaps, she thought, it was because there was nothing they _could_ say that felt good enough. Not after their history – or after the way they had parted.

Henry's shield wasn't guaranteed to work. In case it hadn't, if that was going to be the last time she ever saw Nikola, she wanted him to know what she had never quite told him: how she felt about him. It hadn't seemed possible to compress two hundred years into one all-too-brief kiss – friendship, close friendship, and the something other than friendship that had always been present with them. And mixed in with those, inseparable from either, a depth of love that staggered even her sometimes. Because Helen did love him, even though she had never once uttered the words out loud. That was what she had tried to tell him. She had wanted to give him a proper goodbye.

Not that a proper goodbye really existed, not for them. They had known each other for too long and had had too great an impact on each other. There was no way to encompass all that in words. Actions came closer, so Helen had kissed him instead, letting her hand linger over his heart for one moment. She thought he had understood the message, if the way he had looked at her afterwards was any indication.

Helen was sure she'd had a similar expression herself. If it really had been goodbye, there was a great deal they would have left unexplored. Helen would have regretted it, but now, faced with the opportunity to do so, she couldn't find the words she needed. Neither could he. Usually, they would just put it aside as they so often had before, but something was preventing them from doing that now. All they could do was stand motionless, holding each other.

The silence stretched.

"Nikola, I'm glad you're here," Helen said at last, feeling the inadequacy of it. Say what she would about Nikola, she was rarely uncomfortable in conversation with him. If one of them didn't find a way to restore their usual equilibrium, they would both go mad.

Nikola just nodded against her and clutched her a little tighter. "Helen," he repeated softly, which, while touching, was astoundingly little help. Silence fell again, bringing a suffocating atmosphere with it this time.

Helen was beginning to find a wild kind of humor in the situation. So it _was_ possible to render Nikola speechless. Except that she didn't want him speechless, she wanted to be able to talk with him again. Before anything else, she wanted her best friend back. There was so much about the new Sanctuary she hadn't been able to tell him before that she wanted to share with him now.

This was usually the point where Nikola grinned and came up with some ridiculous joke to make her laugh, but he didn't seem to be capable of that right now. Which meant it was going to have to be her.

Well, Helen thought with a return of that odd hilarity, if she wanted to distract them both, she could always kiss him again. She snorted. That probably wouldn't go very far towards lessening the tension, though.

There was nothing for it. She had to do something.

She pulled back and grasped his shoulders, giving him an earnest look. "I…need you to fix my generator," she said, a little stiffly. How did Nikola think these things up on the spur of the moment?

Nikola stared at her for a moment, leftover tears still rolling down his cheeks – then a hesitant smile cracked across his face, and he gave a strangled laugh. Stepping back, he swiped a hand over his eyes, keeping it in place for a few seconds longer than necessary, and dropped it with something closer to his old grin back in place. He flipped his coat behind him and put a hand on his hip.

"Well, that didn't take you long," he said. He was overdoing the smugness, his voice was shaking, and tears still stood in his eyes, but Helen would have thrown her arms around him if she didn't think it would start everything over again. "I see what you really want me around for. Hold on, you gave me a tie last Christmas. I'm not your house elf anymore."

"It's Praxian." Helen's eyes flicked down. She _had_ given him a tie last Christmas, and he was wearing it now.

"So after I get it running, is there anything else you need?" he asked immediately.

"I'm sure I can think of something," she said, her lips twitching. This lacked the energy of their usual banter, but it was a start. "Follow me."

Nikola didn't exactly follow her – he attached himself to her side, linking their arms and interlacing their fingers. Helen did nothing to dislodge him.

Helen gave him an impromptu and incomplete tour on their way down to the generator room, using the opportunity to examine him more closely while his attention was occupied by the Sanctuary.

He looked awful. From her lifetimes of experience, Helen knew the signs of a starving vampire, and from the looks of things he had barely gotten anything since the destruction of the old Sanctuary. She made a mental note to stop off on the way down to the generator to get him something to eat. He was pale and unsteady on his feet, with dark circles under his eyes that confirmed what her knowledge of Nikola's character already told her – he hadn't been sleeping at all either. Vampire or no, he couldn't carry on like that forever. He had to be feeling the effects.

He smiled at her when he caught her looking at him, and though his face lit up just as warmly as it always did, his eyes held a kind of desperate longing that made her stomach twist. And when he wasn't smiling, he looked so exhausted that Helen was reminded of his time as a human, when he had nearly worked himself to death.

It wouldn't have taken a genius to figure out the underlying reason, and Helen felt guilt rippling up from where she had pushed it down: she had caused this. God only knew what the rest of her friends, her family, were suffering.

Helen paused in her description of the new abnormal levels to Nikola. "Have you talked with any of the others lately?" she asked finally. She had been keeping tabs on them as best she could, and she had been proud of them for handling everything as well as could be expected. But if she had missed what was going on with Nikola, who knew what else had slipped by her notice?

"Uh, if 'talk' means 'ignore them while they try to distract me from – well, more important work,' then yes."

"How are they doing?"

He took a second look at her and sighed, that tired expression even more obvious. "I don't know, Helen. No one's been exactly skipping through meadows lately."

She nodded. "I'll contact them soon," she said. "In a few weeks perhaps. They're still being monitored by SCIU far too closely to risk any more communication, or any sooner. You shouldn't even be down here."

Nikola was quiet for a second, a touch of sadness flitting across his face. Helen didn't need him to say anything to know what he was thinking.

She sighed. "But I doubt they'll see anything unusual in you suddenly disappearing off the face of the earth. Certainly not if you were as diligent in your job at SCIU as you were at the Sanctuary. We should be safe."

Giving him an encouraging smile, she squeezed his hand. She _was_ glad he was here. More glad than he knew.

* * *

As expected, the generator seemed to cheer Nikola up, as did the rest of the Sanctuary for that matter. Particularly when Helen told him he could have the run of it, or at least the finished levels. Helen had been planning to leave him messing about with it and get back to the mountain of work awaiting her. But she found herself hovering around him instead, watching him twirl and dart around trying to do eight different things at once, his hair standing up even more than usual from the shocks he kept accidentally inflicting on himself.

It was because she knew he was distracted and tired, Helen told herself, and a distracted Nikola could be rather dangerous. She had to keep an eye on him if she wanted to make sure her Sanctuary was still standing in the morning. Plus, she knew she was eventually going to have to drag him to bed herself if she wanted him to get any rest, which was thankfully a sentence she didn't say out loud anywhere near him.

And she had missed him, but Helen wasn't going to credit that with any more than a passing influence in her decision when she slipped out for a few minutes and came back with her laptop, continuing her work perched nearby him. Occasionally, she offered him a bit of advice about the Praxian technology she had spent the last hundred years familiarizing herself with, but for the most part she listened to him rattling on excitedly about the new Sanctuary with a small smile.

When she noticed it was growing late, she shut her laptop and hauled Nikola away from the generator over his complaints that he would have it finished by tomorrow morning if she let him stay up all night.

"Unless you have something more fun planned," he added somewhat predictably, and grinned at her.

Helen only sighed.

Optimistically, she had prepared rooms for all of her staff in the new Sanctuary, and Nikola was almost as enthusiastic about the fact that she had included him as he was about the rest of it – even the new wine cellar. Helen walked him to his door and left him there. He gave her a rather mournful look before she turned away, which Helen would have ignored except for the fact that he actually tried to hide this one instead of sliding smoothly into a cheesy line. It almost made Helen reconsider staying with him. Perhaps… It wasn't as if they couldn't both use the company.

Helen shook her head. She didn't want to risk anything after the awkwardness earlier; more complications were the last thing either of them needed right now. No, it was better to leave things as they were for a while.

So she went to her own room instead, settled into bed, and had been comfortably reading for over an hour before she heard a knock on the door.

"Bloody hell," she muttered. It had to be Nikola. There was hardly anyone else down here, and besides it would be just like him. "Who is it?" she called anyway, sliding one of the guns she kept handy out from under the pillow just in case it wasn't.

An incomprehensible yet distinctly Nikola-esque mumble sounded from behind the door, and Helen sighed, putting her gun down and getting up to let him in.

When she opened the door, she couldn't stop her eyebrows from shooting up. If he'd looked dreadful before, it was nothing compared to what he looked like now.

"What have you been doing?" she asked, stepping aside so he could come in. He wobbled a little and she caught his arm to steady him.

"Sleeping," he said with a hollow smile.

"Drinking, more like." Helen frowned. He must have snuck down to the makeshift lab to brew it up.

"Well, the sleeping came before the drinking, but you know it's all a little muddled at this point." Nikola's hands fluttered in mid-air, confusedly attempting to illustrate the chain of events. All he was getting across was the "muddled" part. "You look amazing, by the way. Is this your bedroom?"

Helen sighed. "Nikola, sit down before you fall down." He would only be like this for a short while – his physiology didn't allow him to get drunk for long, no matter what he'd cooked up.

He didn't move, so Helen took his shoulders, marched him over to her bed, and pushed him down herself. She sat next to him, putting a hand on his shoulder gently.

"Now," she said. "Tell me what's going on." Nikola was usually a bit more giggly when intoxicated. Now, all he did was sit on the edge of her bed and stare at the floor, his fingers drumming impossibly fast against his thigh.

"You know, you really should have gotten angrier at me in Cairo," he said after a few minutes of dead silence. From the looks of things, the effects of whatever alcoholic mixture he'd come up with this time were already lifting.

Helen was used to Nikola's non sequiturs, and it didn't take her long to figure out where he was headed with this. Nikola was now getting a taste of being the one who couldn't sleep for thinking about what had almost happened to _her_ – and what she had let him believe.

Her fingers curled tighter around his upper arm, trying to offer him some comfort even if she was still unwilling to cross that invisible wall that had sprung up between them today.

"And I'm not just saying that because you're hot when you're angry," Nikola continued. Even that was delivered weakly, with none of his usual spark, and that perhaps more than anything troubled Helen.

She shook her head, her eyebrows furrowing. "Nikola –"

He finally looked at her, and Helen was taken aback by the sheer pain on his face.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he choked. "I thought I'd – I spent this whole time thinking you were – just gone, Helen, and I – I couldn't, I couldn't – " Nikola looked away again, bowing his head to rest on his shaking hands. "Helen…"

Complications and walls be damned. Helen couldn't watch him in pain like that any longer.

"Come here, Nikola," she said softly, and folded her arms around him. He leaned against her, burying his face in her shoulder and clumsily wrapping an arm around her waist.

Helen rubbed his back with one hand, giving him a gentle kiss on the forehead. Her other hand she slid through his hair, stroking it lightly. Nikola loved it when she did that.

"I couldn't tell anyone, not even you," she said. "If SCIU caught even a hint I was still alive, if they found out about the Sanctuary here…"

She had never wanted to hurt him, or anyone else, by temporarily letting them think she was dead; she had only wanted to protect what she had begun here. But however justified she knew she was, her heart ached at the way he was clinging to her desperately, broken sobs muffled in her shoulder.

"I know, I know," he said miserably. "Your grand, century-long spanning plan would be all for naught. I understand, Helen. I don't blame you. Ok, I might blame you a tiny bit. But not enough to ruin our friendship."

Helen had to smile just a little at that. He was still doing it, even now. All of a sudden, she rather wanted to make _him_ smile, to see that brilliant grin with his deep dimples, his eyes sparkling in the way she loved more than she could ever tell him.

"But – "

It didn't make it any easier. Helen knew that from experience.

For a moment, he said nothing. Helen could still feel his hand trembling on her side.

"I left you," he whispered. "I left you to die."

Helen's breath caught. _Oh, Nikola._

"Because I ordered you to," she said firmly. "Henry's shield was only good for one. If you had stayed, you would have died, Nikola. Do you think I wanted to be responsible for that? With just me staying behind, there was a chance for everyone to make it out alive. And we did." Bigfoot was still in critical condition, but Helen was still hoping.

"Oh, Helen, why do you always have to be so damned logical?" Nikola raised his head, though he still held her tightly around the waist. "Do you think that made it any easier to lock you in with half a dozen murderers, knowing you were about to blow yourself up?"

"You knew my plan, Nikola. I wasn't about to let them kill me."

"Yeah, I knew your plan. But it might have been kinda nice to know if it _worked_. You'll have to forgive me if I wasn't exactly expecting the disappearing act." Bitterness was creeping into Nikola's voice.

"I just told you," Helen began with a frustrated edge, but Nikola cut her off.

"You should tell Henry," he said.

A jolt of pure surprise ran through Helen. She'd known they were becoming closer, but she wasn't used to Nikola openly displaying kindness towards Henry either. It silenced her long enough for Nikola to get his next words out.

"He thinks you're dead and it's his fault, because he screwed something up on the shield."

Helen closed her eyes. "Dear God."

"And I gotta say, since I took a look at it while I was there, I wasn't too far off from thinking the same thing about myself."

"I can't let them know, Nikola. Not yet," Helen said. "It's too dangerous."

"There are more ways to tell him than whisking him off the surface, Helen," Nikola said, pulling back and fixing her with a persuasive look. "Just…let him know there's a chance."

"He'll want to come down here. They all will," Helen said. " _You_ did."

"Sure, but none of them are madly in love with you." He gave her a hesitant smile.

"Dear lord," she said. "I'll tell them when it's safe, Nikola. I can't jeopardize this." She waved a hand around her. "I've spent a century on this place, this work, I can't endanger it for personal reasons. I told you before, it's dangerous even for you to be down here. If I bring anyone else in…"

Nikola let out a faint hiss. "You know, while we're on the subject, tell me something Helen: if I hadn't found you myself, how long would you have waited? Would you have let me think I'd walked away and let you die, or better yet, caused your death with my sloppy work? Actually, never mind. I don't think I want to know." That pained expression came back. "After everything, Helen – I thought – " He stopped.

Helen stiffened. "You thought what, Nikola?" she asked sharply. "You thought you were too important to me for you to get left out of the loop? I wanted to tell you! I wanted to tell everyone. Do you think I enjoyed destroying my life, leaving everyone I care about, letting them think I was dead? You think this, any of this, is easy for me?"

"Helen –"

"It was my _home_ , Nikola." Her voice broke. "Ashley grew up there."

Nikola looked stricken.

"Her old room is gone. I saved everything I could from it, but it's – it's gone. She knew every inch of that place. Everywhere I looked, I could remember her there, and it's all gone, because of me. _That's_ the result of my grand plan." Helen took a shuddering breath, hot tears spilling down her cheeks. "And the shield – Nikola, the EM shield – "

The shield might have been reset, but the impossible hope that Ashley might return someday through it had never quite left the back of Helen's mind. But she had destroyed that too.

Her composure shattered. She collapsed, sobbing, against Nikola, whose arms opened to her without a second thought.

All his bitterness from before seemed to dissolve in the face of her grief. He murmured her name as he held her, stroking her hair. "It's not possible that she was still there," he said gently. "You exhausted that line of research years ago."

Helen nodded against him. She knew that already, and the knowledge did nothing to alleviate her pain, but he was trying his best to comfort her. For that, she was grateful.

A long moment passed by, the sound of Helen's crying the only thing breaking the silence.

Nikola wound his arms tighter around her, then hesitated. "Do you want me to leave?" He knew Helen didn't like anyone else to be present at times like these.

Helen shook her head, clutching a fistful of Nikola's waistcoat. "No," she managed, her voice hoarse. "Stay."

"Say no more." Nikola shifted his hold on Helen, easing them both down onto the bed into a more comfortable position, and kept stroking her hair tenderly.

"I'll be right here, Helen," he whispered. "Right here. For as long as you want me."

* * *

Whatever remnants of the uncomfortable tension had been left, they pretty much evaporated after that, leaving only their familiar (and much more pleasant) tension behind. Neither of them really wanted to revisit it to examine why, though Nikola's personal suspicion was that after a bout of weeping in each other's arms, whatever was causing the strained atmosphere seemed rather unimportant. He would have preferred to go without the weeping, but at least things were back to normal with Helen again.

Well. As normal as they ever got, anyway.

"Keep working on that while I'm gone," Helen told him, fiddling with her guns in an incredibly attractive way. She had come down to the generator room to let him know she was leaving on a mission and wouldn't be back for at least a few hours, though more likely a day or so. "When you get done, the abnormal levels need to be checked over, and the perimeter sensors. There's about a million things to do: take your pick."

"I thought you were laying low," Nikola said, picking his way over to her through the clutter of parts and tools on the floor. He made sure to let his eyes flicker appreciatively towards her gun. "What about the prying eyes of SCIU, huh?"

"This one is too serious to leave to someone else, I'm afraid," Helen said. "Giant salamanders in the sewers."

Nikola raised his eyebrows. "You realize that sounds like an awful B-movie? I can see the poster now: 'NIGHT OF THE GIANT SALAMANDER INVASION.' No, wait. That's a terrible title for a movie. Never mind."

"Missing your chance to cling to my leg as I fend off the salamanders? I'm disappointed in you, Nikola." She chuckled. Nikola snuck his gaze downwards to the legs in question, complete with that stunning thigh holster.

"Keep an eye on things _here_ until I get back, will you?" Judging from the slight emphasis, she knew exactly what he had just been thinking.

"Of course," he said. "Unless you want me to come with you. Leg-clinging aside, you know I'm useful." He brought up his hands, twisting them together and pulling them apart, drawing a flickering electric arc between his fingers and holding it up to show Helen before he let it fizzle out.

"Look what I've been practicing."

Helen's face softened and she smiled. She often did when she saw him using the powers that she had given back to him, like it was her own personal little reminder that he would be around to annoy her for the rest of her life. At least, that's what Nikola liked to think.

"I'll be fine," she said. "You'll be more useful here."

Nikola stifled a sigh. He didn't mind staying at all, really. There was so much of this place he hadn't even investigated yet, and Helen was right: he _was_ more use here. But he'd just found her again, and his fear for her hadn't left him completely yet.

He swallowed it and gave her a smile. "Well, have fun."

Tentatively, he touched her arm and leaned in, kissing her on the cheek. He wanted to ask her to come home safe, but he settled for saying, "With my usual shocking productivity, I'll have the generator done by the time you get home."

" _Shocking_ , Nikola?" Helen asked, giving him a look. "Really?"

He raised his hands. "I know, I'm a menace."

"You are. I'll have to do something about you when I get back," she told him with a mischievous smile.

"Ooh. Now that sounds fun."

* * *

Doing something about Nikola involved cracking open a bottle from the new wine cellar when Helen got back late the next night and talking into the early hours of the morning. Nikola would have happily stayed with her until dawn, but she sent him off to bed instead, peering at him in a concerned way like she knew he hadn't been sleeping. She probably did.

The night before last, Nikola had told himself it was for Helen. It had taken her a long time to fall asleep, and if she needed him he had wanted to be conscious. But even after she had finally exhausted herself and fallen into uneasy, fitful sleep, Nikola stayed awake. He just hadn't been able to shake the fear that she'd be gone when he woke up, and since his vampirism allowed him to go without sleep for much longer than he could as a human, he had decided to simply avoid it altogether.

The decision had been even easier to make last night, when Helen was away, and Nikola hadn't thought twice before staying up all night, fixing everything she'd mentioned and more. He'd gone exploring a little too, getting an idea of the place's layout. It was a little eerie, wandering around the new Sanctuary by himself as artificial stars twinkled overhead, but it beat the alternative.

– _he caught a glimpse of dark hair and froze, and as he dug her out a shower of rubble fell on him, blurring his vision as he curled over her to shield her from it. When he could see again, an anguished cry tore from his throat. Henry's shield had protected her from the explosion but not the building itself – she was cold in his arms, her face twisted in pain, a trickle of dried blood running past vacant, staring eyes –_

He jerked awake with a cry, gasping for breath, his heart thudding so loudly it felt for one wild moment as if it were about to burst out of his chest. Sweat coated him, and he had gone from being unpleasantly warm to freezing in the space of a few seconds.

Nikola sank back against the soft pillows Helen had furnished him with, more exhausted than he had been a few hours ago. He reached a hand out, turning his bedside lamp on with a brush of his finger.

He stared at the light for a minute before sighing and getting out of bed. Clearly, this was a pointless endeavor tonight; he might as well get something done.

* * *

Helen found him in the temporary lab they were using until the actual lab was finished, tinkering mindlessly with something that probably shouldn't have had the word "mindlessly" attached to it.

"Nikola?" she said, coming in. "I thought you were supposed to be in bed."

"I'd love to comment on that sentence, but what are _you_ doing up and about?" Nikola asked, deflecting her unspoken question.

Helen tilted her head, narrowing her eyes at him. "Couldn't sleep," she said. The brevity of her reply left about an ocean's worth of questions, though Nikola could guess at the answers for most of them.

"Hmm," he said, swiveling his chair over to the computer and tapping away at the keys. "That would seem to be the common affliction tonight."

"It would," Helen said. She watched him quietly for a moment.

The new Sanctuary had an entirely different set of ambient noises than what Nikola knew from the old one. The waterfall was rushing outside, though muffled by thick walls. He wasn't even sure if it was audible to someone without his abilities. There was the hum of the advanced Praxian technology that helped keep the Sanctuary running, too.

But there was no ancient building to creak and rattle in the wind. The weather was on a loop of clear skies, so there was hardly any wind to speak of anyway, or rain or thunder. And there was no traffic, either – to Nikola's ears it was glaringly obvious that they were completely isolated down here.

It was…off. It disturbed him, though he couldn't have said why until he concentrated. If it was throwing him for a curve, he couldn't imagine what it was doing to Helen, who'd spent a good chunk of her long life in the old place. He doubted that was the only reason she couldn't sleep, though.

"Genius might work best for an audience, but if you're going to stand there all night you could at least put an episode of Operation Paranormal on," Nikola said after a while.

Helen laughed, the sound seeming to fill the quiet corners of the Sanctuary at night. "I thought you hated that show," she said.

"Exactly. If it's that or me, you're bound to watch me instead."

"You don't fool me," Helen said. "I know you watched the first four seasons in the space of a week and a half last year."

"Whatever," Nikola said, because he had.

Helen crossed the room, looking down at what he was working on. "I have a better idea," she said.

"Oh yeah, what is it?"

Nikola was expecting her to tell him to go to bed, just as she had before. But instead, she touched his wrist gently.

"How would you like some help?" she asked.

* * *

Nikola remembered Helen saying she couldn't sleep the next day, and on the off chance that he could do something to help, he snagged a bottle of wine from the cellar and brought it up to her that night. He had just raised his hand to knock when the door opened.

Nikola raised an eyebrow. "Miss me?"

Helen rolled her eyes and gestured for him to come inside.

They talked for a while, and by the next morning they were curled tightly around each other, just like Nikola's first night in Hollow Earth. Neither of them could change anything that had happened, but there was some solace in not facing it all alone.

The next night was the same, except that Helen showed up at Nikola's door instead of the other way around. They didn't waste time on words that night; they only melted against each other, accepting comfort in each other's simple presence. It was the same for several nights afterwards, until it had somehow turned into a habit that neither of them particularly wanted to give up.

Despite Nikola sleepily telling Helen one night that if they were going to have mind-blowing reunion sex now was the time, nothing actually happened between them. Helen had laughed though, which had kind of been the point in the first place. Her fingers were stroking softly through his hair, and that combined with the rich sound had made Nikola smile as he nestled closer to her and drifted off.

Outside of the occasional peck on the cheek or forehead, they hadn't even kissed since the old Sanctuary. Even though the rest of their temporary awkwardness had faded away, that one thing still hung over them, and Nikola thought he knew why.

They had spent so long locked in their endless tension, getting together and falling apart and then doing it all over again, they had never really figured out how to do anything else. Helen had only ever hinted at the way she actually felt about him, and though Nikola had always been pretty obvious about his own feelings for her, he would freely admit that he was also pretty awful at confessing them. (Ok, so he was bad at _one_ thing. Rome in particular had been a disaster – almost letting zombie vampires kill your love was decidedly not the most romantic follow-up to the love declaration itself.)

He and Helen together were indefinable; they always had been. And Helen had changed that when she kissed him – when she had told him, in her own way, that she loved him back. (Not out loud, which Nikola didn't expect to hear any time soon. Someday, perhaps, which was a thrilling enough thought by itself.)

Now, they both knew that if they took another step and cemented that revelation, they would be past the comfort of their relationship as it had always been. It seemed a ridiculous thing to avoid, but they were very, very old and set in their ways. Constants were rare in their lives, and they had been each other's for too long to remember.

Right now, they needed constants.

* * *

Helen looked up from her desk when she heard the knock on her office door. Nikola was standing on the threshold, one arm behind his back and an ingratiating smile plastered on his face. Helen waved him in.

"You're in a surprisingly polite mood today," she said. Nikola almost never knocked.

"I have something for you – for both of us, actually," he said, pulling a bottle out from behind him. "I figured a little pomp and ceremony wouldn't go amiss."

Helen peered closer at the bottle as he walked towards her. "Is that from my cellar?" she asked, then, sarcastically: "What a generous gift."

"Well you know me, Helen, I like to really go all out when I lavish you with attention." He set two glasses down on her desk with a clink as they knocked together. "Join me for a drink?"

Helen gave him a nod, leaning back and watching him pour. "What's the occasion?"

He gave her a smile. "No occasion. I'm just trying to butter you up."

Helen snorted. "Alright Nikola, what did you break?"

"Nothing!" he said defensively. "I have a question for you. But…" He hesitated. "If you don't want to answer it, I'm still drinking the wine."

Helen's lips twitched as she leaned forward, accepting the glass he offered her. "What's your question?"

Nikola sat on her desk and swirled the wine in his glass. "Your other hundred years," he said after a pause. "Now that I know about all your super-secret workings down here, I was wondering…"

"You want to know how often I visited you?" Helen guessed.

He shrugged, looking away. "Sure."

His attempts at being nonchalant had never fooled Helen. She took a sip of wine, considering. She didn't _need_ to hide anything from him now, or from anyone else. But she had grown used to it over the years.

Then again, maybe that was a habit she should start trying to break.

"New York, 1901," she said finally. "You were right about that, and about 1902. What you don't know is that it was me for almost all of that year. I hadn't visited you very much then, originally, and I thought it was an ideal time to get your assistance."

"My assistance? Oh please, Helen, you just couldn't stay away from me." Nikola sounded purely delighted.

Helen rolled her eyes, even if she privately conceded that she had sought him out more often back then than she had really needed his help. "Do you want to hear the rest, or would you prefer to keep interrupting me?"

Nikola grinned, edging closer and fixing her with an attentive expression. "Say on, my lady."

She shook her head, smiling. "I could tell you were beginning to suspect something, so I left for a while…"

* * *

Over the next couple of weeks, Nikola could tell that Helen had finally begun to settle in down here. Getting back into the swing of work was probably helping to keep her mind busy, and she was clearly becoming more comfortable with the new Sanctuary as a home instead of a project. However it was happening, Nikola was glad to see Helen looking happier.

Helen eventually gave him the full tour he had been begging for, of the entire new Sanctuary and a fair amount of the surrounding part of Hollow Earth. It took up the majority of the day and night, and the rest of it was spent chatting in her office over tea about her plans for the place.

Other evenings, they worked with each other in the lab, or sat together reading, their attention focused on their separate books and their arms rubbing when either of them turned a page. Or Nikola convinced Helen to watch television and took the opportunity to snuggle into her shoulder, making fun of the inane plot of whatever she turned on until she broke down laughing against him. Sometimes, all they did was talk.

One night, a few weeks after Nikola had come to Hollow Earth, they had just finished lambasting Nikola's favorite episode of Operation Paranormal: the season 3 Halloween special, in which Steven and Michael investigated the vengeful spirit of a woman supposedly killed by vampires in the 1950s. It was Nikola's favorite because it got vampires so horrifyingly wrong that even his sensitivity about the subject in popular culture was overcome by sheer hilarity.

The episode was the last on the disc, and they were both too tired to get up and change it: the lack of sleep lately was telling on them. Helen was settled comfortably on Nikola, a blanket thrown over both of them and a bottle of wine on the nearby table.

In the silence following the credits, the last of their laughter faded away, and she began to tell Nikola more about her ideas for the new Sanctuary. There were going to be other Sanctuaries scattered throughout Hollow Earth, with connecting tunnels and their own routes to the surface. It would work much like the old Sanctuary Network, Helen said, only underneath the surface, but it would take time and effort to get it all set up. A lot of the elements were in place, but even this one Sanctuary and the skeletal basis for the network had taken Helen a hundred years to get in working order, and those were still getting the finishing touches put on them.

Sometimes, she slipped "we" or "us" in there, or asked his opinion on some major issue like communication between the Sanctuaries, and Nikola practically glowed every time. She hadn't asked him yet, but he had very little doubt that Helen knew he would stay and help her, if she wanted him to. When she talked like that, she sounded as if she were as glad to have him by her side as he was to be there.

Lying there warm and cozy with Helen, listening to her describe her dream with the passion that he loved so much, Nikola realized this was one of the few times since the destruction of the old Sanctuary that he had actually felt content. From the expression on what he could see of Helen's face, she was thinking something similar.

There was a break in conversation and she turned her head, nuzzling tiredly into his neck. "Nikola." Her voice was muffled in his collar.

"Mmm?" Nikola inhaled deeply, enjoying the feeling of Helen pressed into his chest. He adjusted his arm around her.

Helen paused. "I'll be leaving the day after tomorrow to check over the building sites for the other Sanctuaries. It may take a while."

"Want me along?" Nikola asked, though he suspected he already knew the answer.

"I need you to stay and monitor things here," Helen said, with enough regret to soothe Nikola's sinking spirits.

"Sorry, the only part of that I heard was 'I need you.'" Nikola grinned into Helen's hair as she chuckled. "Fine, fine, I'll stay." Even if Nikola still didn't relish the idea of being away from Helen for any length of time, she wasn't the only one who had begun to feel more comfortable in this place.

"And I won't even blow anything up while you're gone, just for you," he added.

"How gallant of you," she said dryly.

Helen propped herself up to look at him, smiling. There was so much affection in her eyes that Nikola couldn't help but smile back as he reached up to cup her face, stroking his thumb gently across her cheek, his index finger touching the crinkles around her eyes.

"Nikola," she murmured. His hand fell away in surprise when she leaned down and pressed her lips to his. Her arm slid around him as she kissed him unhurriedly, her other hand burying itself in his hair. She pulled away slowly, resting her forehead on his and breathing against his lips for a moment before leaning back and opening her eyes. The expression on her face told him she was waiting for his answer to her unspoken question.

Fortunately, Nikola had it ready to go.

"I have a lengthy and moving speech prepared about breaking new ground regardless of the difficulties, if you'd care to hear it," Nikola said seriously. "I think it's a good one. Much better than any of your dull lectures."

"Is that so," Helen said with clear amusement, though he could see a flood of relief behind her eyes.

"Yeah, it really tugs at your heartstrings. I even make this great connection to our work at Oxford."

"That's a dreadful analogy, my dear," Helen said, and Nikola felt a shivering thrill run through him at hearing her call him by one of his own endearments for her.

"You know," Nikola said, licking his lips as his eyes flicked down to hers, "now that you mention it, it is…kinda awful…"

 _Kissing you again is a much better idea_ , he was going to say before Helen did just that, still tenderly but with a bit more force than before. He craned up into her, his eyes closing as his free arm came up to wind around her back, his fingers running through her hair as she deepened the kiss.

One of her hands slid down his chest, and anything else Nikola was going to say was promptly forgotten apart from inwardly cursing that this waistcoat didn't have metal buttons.

* * *

Tangled in each other and breathless, they collapsed against Helen's pillows much later that night (the couch was too small and her room had been the closest, though Nikola hadn't been paying much attention at the time). Helen immediately curled into his side, pressing soft kisses to his skin and tracing her fingers across his chest. Her caresses slowed and finally stopped as she fell asleep, her arm still thrown loosely over him.

Her breathing was steady, the even thrum of her heart clearly audible to him, her body even warmer than it usually was. Nikola sighed sleepily and snuggled a little closer, basking in comfortable heat and the scent of Helen. He was beginning to drift, too. He was pretty sure neither of them had actually gotten a full night's sleep since the old Sanctuary, but who knew? Maybe tonight would be the night.

Though at this point, a decent rest would only be icing on the cake. Nikola would accept a thousand sleepless nights for the one he'd just had.

That was when it occurred to him: he'd been expecting something more…dramatic. He had figured that if they ever did overcome whatever barriers were left between them, they would do it in some tense, gripping, life-or-death situation. After all, that was kinda their modus operandi.

But right now, Nikola found that he wouldn't have changed a thing – not when Helen had smiled at him and kissed him like she never planned on stopping, not when she had gotten just as distracted by him as he had by her on the dizzy, heated trip back here, and…

Helen chose that moment to tighten her arm around him in her sleep, mumbling his name contentedly. Nikola gazed at her, his throat tightening, before leaning over to plant an impulsive kiss against her hair.

Right now, it was perfect, just the way it was.

* * *

Helen decided the next morning that Nikola could come with her on her trip through the new Sanctuary network if he wanted to. Nikola, occupied at that moment with trailing sleepy relaxed kisses up Helen's throat, paused for a second before pushing himself up to make sure he'd heard her right.

"What about the, you know," and he waved an all-encompassing hand, rather wanting to get back to Helen's warmth as soon as possible. "I thought you needed me," he added, smirking.

"It's your decision, Nikola," Helen said, smiling before she flipped them both smoothly over and bent to kiss him, her arms winding around his neck. "I'm merely giving you the option."

Some time later, when he got his breath back, Nikola took the alternative she had offered, murmuring against her neck that he would follow her to the ends of the earth, or, less dramatically, wherever her Hollow Earth tour led.

He was close enough to feel her laughter vibrating through her throat before she took his face in her hands, tilting it up and kissing him again and again until their wide smiles made it nearly impossible to continue.

* * *

The Hollow Earth tour took nearly two weeks, despite their travel time being greatly reduced by the presence of the Praxian rail system, and Nikola finally got to see some of the things he had only heard descriptions of before. The great city itself was still in ruins, the restoration in its early stages; he slipped an arm around Helen and drew her against him when they stood looking out over it, remembering what she had lost there.

But some of the other wonders had survived, and Helen showed them all to him, seeming to take almost as much delight in watching his reactions as she did in revisiting them herself. Even without any of that, Helen's Sanctuary network plans would have kept them both plenty busy. When they finally got home, they were exhausted, but with lighter hearts and a sense of determination.

By that time, SCIU's oversight had lifted enough that the rest of Helen's staff could make their way little by little down to Hollow Earth. Despite his honest belief that Helen should tell them, or at least tell the ones he liked, Nikola felt just a twinge of regret at no longer having Helen all to himself. It had almost been like old times, just the two of them together against a task that seemed too big for an army. And there was the added bonus that he could now kiss her any time he liked, _and_ he got to wake up with her every morning. But having the kids around made Helen happy, so Nikola would put up with them. Besides, he was looking forward to freaking them out a little with the aforementioned bonuses.

Henry came down first, of course. Erika was still on the surface, someplace out of SCIU's reach, and Henry was staying away from her for a while to keep her that way. Nikola happened to be around when Helen greeted him – totally coincidental – and he couldn't help a small, private smile when he saw Henry throw his arms around Helen and sob his relief into her shoulder.

He was punished for his moment of sentimentality when he was treated to the same, nearly getting bowled over when Henry flung himself at him.

Nikola met Helen's eyes in a pleading way over Henry's head to find her watching him with a rather smug expression. She raised her eyebrows, and Nikola lifted his hand to give Henry a tentative pat on the back.

"Careful there wolf boy, you don't want to know how much this suit cost," he said.

Henry squeezed him tighter. "I'm so glad you guys are ok," he said happily.

Another traitorous smile flickered on Nikola's face before he quashed it – not before Helen saw it and gave him, not the smirk that Nikola had been expecting, but a look of deep, almost painful joy.

* * *

Kate was next, her connection to Hollow Earth making it nearly impossible to keep the secret from her any longer. Helen and Henry both got hugs from her (Nikola didn't). She couldn't stay, but she promised to swing by any time they needed her.

"And even when you don't. After all, who's gonna torture Hank if I'm not around?" she added, grinning at Henry.

Kate had spilled the beans to Bigfoot, who insisted on coming down to stay even if his recovery wasn't complete yet. According to him, he was tired of her snorting over the novels he had her read to him, though this was said with such a fond tone that even Nikola wasn't fooled. He had entirely too much fun faking his tragic death in the hospital so SCIU wouldn't ask too many questions about his disappearance.

Nikola hung back for a few minutes so Helen could talk to him privately, but rejoined them when Helen beckoned him over and they started down the hall for a celebratory drink. Bigfoot took one look at their clasped hands, raised his eyebrows, looked at Helen smiling, and grunted at them both with a short nod.

Declan and the other Sanctuary leaders Helen trusted trickled in after that, called down by her to receive their new assignments now that SCIU's watch had let up enough. They all oohed and ahhed appropriately at the new facilities, and Nikola felt rather smug watching them. It was about damn time they lavished Helen with the praise she deserved.

* * *

Nikola didn't bother heading to Will's greeting, though he had a few ideas about how it should go.

"Make sure and tell Junior you've just gotten out of bed with me," he told Helen, leaning back against the headboard and watching her get dressed with a lazy grin. "Don't skimp on the details."

Helen rolled her eyes. "Oh, very mature." She smirked at him. "Actually, I wasn't planning on mentioning you at all. Don't want to frighten him off, you know."

"Sure about that?" Nikola muttered.

"Nikola," Helen said disapprovingly. "If you're to stay down here, I expect you to at least make an effort to get along with my staff."

On that first night, when Helen's usual reserve had broken, she had let slip to Nikola some of what Will had said to her in Bolivia. Lightly put, it had not endeared him to Nikola.

Helen seemed willing to forgive him, and Nikola would do pretty much anything for her. Still, he wasn't exactly keen on playing nice with Will at the moment.

But it was Helen, and she was giving him that look that she had perfected over the centuries, and Nikola was totally helpless against her.

"Fine," he said. "If he can find it in his unimpressive power to be civil, then so can I. But don't expect much," he warned before his cool demeanor was shattered by Helen coming over and dropping a kiss on his forehead.

"Thank you," she said, kissing him again.

Nikola melted under her touch, an idiotic smile plastering itself to his face. He caught her hand as she leaned back, getting ready to go.

"I might even manage to be downright friendly," he said, grinning. "With a little more convincing."

Helen laughed. "Liar," she said fondly, ruffling his hair. "Have fun in the lab."

"Don't trip over his self-importance," Nikola said as she left. "A fall from that height could kill you."

"Civility, remember?" Helen called back, still laughing as the door swung shut behind her.

* * *

"So I finally get to find out what you've been doing up here?" Nikola asked as he followed Helen down the top floor of the new Sanctuary. "You know, this whole 'stay out of the third floor corridor on the right hand side' thing is getting a little old."

"Not to worry, Nikola," Helen said cheerfully. "I suspect you'll like this."

"No painful death?" he asked.

Helen smiled, taking his hand. "No painful death."

She opened the door, leading Nikola through and stepping aside.

Nikola's mouth dropped open. "Wow," he said, and could say no more.

It was a laboratory, but it was nothing like her old one. This one was completely decked out with every Praxian goody imaginable, with room to breathe left over. Three of the walls were made of what looked like glass, though Nikola knew it was actually a material much stronger than glass, since the rest of the windows here were made of the same stuff. It gave him a flawless view of Hollow Earth, waterfall included. Everything practically sparkled, brand new and ready for his use, and a bottle of wine sat on the center table.

It was – Nikola couldn't find the words for what it was, so he settled for whispering "wow" again.

"I take it you approve," Helen said with another smile.

"Helen," Nikola said breathlessly. "This is… _incredible_. Much better than that god-forsaken museum piece you tried to shove off on me before."

"Museum piece?" Helen raised an eyebrow. "You realize both of us are older than that laboratory was."

"Yes, but we've aged so fabulously."

She chuckled. "Well, it's yours."

Nikola turned to her, his eyes widening. "Really? All mine, not some 'work with Henry and I'll let you use it' deal?"

"All yours," Helen confirmed. "Though if you'd like to work with Henry, I would be happy to arrange that."

"Did you give _him_ a lab?"

"I'm afraid so," Helen said, her lips twitching.

"But you gave me all the really cool stuff, right?"

"Certainly not," she said.

"Crush my hopes and dreams, why don't you," Nikola said. "So what's the occasion this time? As much as I'd like to believe it's simply because you adore me, I know you better than that."

Helen tilted her head, looking at him thoughtfully. "I would think it was obvious, Nikola. I'm offering you a job."

"A job?" he repeated.

"Yes. What with your finally abandoning your attempts at world domination –"

"What kind of example would I be setting for the kids?"

"I no longer felt that I would be endangering all of humanity or anyone else by aiding you in your work," Helen continued, ignoring him.

"And I heroically betrayed SCIU, too," he reminded her, conveniently leaving out the part where he was fired.

Helen gave him a sarcastic look that told him she hadn't forgotten that part. "As long as you swear to me you'll be reasonable with your experiments, you can use this place as much as you want."

"So what else would this job involve?" Nikola asked suspiciously. "You're not going to stick me with paperwork, are you?"

She laughed. "Just what you've always done. Stay here, help out. Fix my things when I need you to. I'll even let you at the wine cellar and come on missions sometimes."

"Well, I can do that. You are in desperate need of someone competent around here." Nikola grinned. "You know you didn't even need to bribe me with the lab to get me to stay," he added. "Not that I'm turning it down."

"I thought as much," Helen said, looking amused.

A few seconds passed in silence. Nikola went over to check the label on the wine, whistling softly.

"As a matter of fact, Nikola," Helen began from behind him, sounding nearly as stiff and hesitant as he'd ever heard her.

He turned around, his forehead creasing. Helen was avoiding his eyes.

She cleared her throat. "I brought you up here for two reasons."

Nikola's heart gave an odd stutter and dropped into his stomach before jumping into his throat –at least that's what it felt like. Helen finally met his eyes, and the expression on her face made a choking, confusing, blissful wave of overwhelming joy rush over him.

"Because only you can help me carry on my work here at the Sanctuary," Helen said gently. "And – "

"Wait." It escaped Nikola before he could stop it, and he felt like throwing himself against the wall and banging his head against it. What the hell was he thinking? He knew exactly what she was about to say, and he'd _stopped_ her?

"Helen, wait. Don't get me wrong, I love that you're doing a callback," he said, his words coming out in a muddled rush. "Really, I love it, it's so…me. But…" He swallowed. "Look, that really isn't my best moment."

Helen's expression softened. "Nikola –"

"No, let me finish," Nikola said hastily. He had to get this out. "I almost let you die, Helen. I was – well, if it weren't _me,_ I would say I was an idiot. I mean, I almost turned into my late and unlamented ancestors. I would have, if it weren't for you. And let's be honest, they were a bunch of assholes. And not the charming, adorable kind like me." He took a deep breath.

"You saved me," he said softly. "Even when I let you down, you just kept saving me. So many times, in so many ways. And I… I can never thank you enough for that." Nikola faltered, wanting to tell her he would do his best to never let her down again, but unable to find the words he wanted.

"Including the time I shot you so you didn't take over the world?" Helen asked, her eyebrows raised in a suspiciously amused way. But her eyes were filled with a tender light.

Maybe Nikola should have waited to deliver his speech.

"I kinda had it coming," he heard himself say. "And besides, you looked really hot."

Helen stared at him for a moment, then she started laughing.

"Nikola," Helen said after a minute, shaking her head, her voice still quivering slightly, "you really are impossible."

Nikola gave her a hesitant smile. "Well, that's why you love me, right?"

Helen smiled at him. The look she gave him then wasn't overflowing with intense, desperate passion, though it was there, underneath the surface. But mostly it reminded Nikola of the way he felt every time he made her laugh, a familiar, comfortable warmth covering him with its glow.

"Yes," Helen said quietly. "I suppose it is."

Nikola had known it was coming – really, he had known for a long time – but he still felt dizzy at hearing it out loud, his entire body suddenly very warm. The next thing he knew Helen was in his arms and her lips were on his and Nikola could finally, _finally,_ tell her himself.

"I love you," he whispered, his lips brushing hers. "I love you." He kissed her jaw, dipping his head lower. "I love you," he breathed against her neck.

Helen whispered it one more time in his ear and Nikola went very still, closing his eyes against her for a moment. "Helen," he sighed before raising his face to hers again.

When they separated for air, Nikola planting kisses all over her face and neck between breaths, Helen had a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Nikola, there's a magnetic lock on the door," she told him.

"You are brilliant."

He could feel her smiling against him. "Don't I know it?"

Nikola leaned back to grin at her. "Ah, you managed a callback after all. You know, I'm pretty sure we were in bed that time."

"Well," Helen said, her eyes sparkling. "We'll get there eventually."

"Have I mentioned that I love the way your mind works?"

"Possibly."

"I love you, actually."

"Are you ever going to lock the door?" Helen asked, laughing.

"I don't know," Nikola said. His grin deepened. "I think I should leave it open, to be symbolic of our future, you know?"

Very deliberately, Helen lifted a hand to his chest and grasped his tie, tugging him towards her.

Nikola swallowed. "Ok, locking it now." He waved a hand, feeling the lock click into place as Helen pressed into him again.

No matter how many times he kissed Helen with his vampiric senses intact, he never quite got used to it. His breath drew in sharply. Helen's heartbeat pulsed through her skin against his fingers, her own hands twisting through his hair, leaving burning trails of her body heat. The faint but sharp smell of gunpowder caught him for a moment before he went whirling through the next cascade of sensations – he was drowning in Helen, in the warmth of her wrapped in his arms, in the pounding heart beats he could no longer tell apart from his, in the sheer taste of her, her lips – her tongue –

Nikola shivered in Helen's arms, moaning into her mouth. Her lips curved up in a smile, and she pulled him even closer, crushing him against her.

Nikola's hands untangled from Helen's hair, running across her shoulders and down her back –

And that was when the intercom buzzed abruptly.

Helen and Nikola surfaced with what Nikola was sure were matching expressions, and Helen stalked across the room to slam her hand against the button.

"What is it?" she asked stiffly.

Behind her, Nikola swayed on his feet, feeling rather drunk.

Helen was talking to someone off to the side and Nikola heard something about paperwork through his fuzzy head, then Helen said, "Excellent," and turned off the intercom.

"Now," she said, turning back to Nikola. "Where were we?"

Nikola gave her a brilliant grin. "We were about to make passionate love on that lab table I notice you've left conveniently clear."

Helen laughed, long and hard, and Nikola was overcome by that warm, dizzy feeling from earlier. _She loved him_.

"Well then," she said, walking back across the room to touch his cheek, sliding her hand down to his chest in a tantalizingly slow way. Her eyes twinkled. "Shall we begin?"

* * *

 **A/N: The end, for now! There will definitely be more chapters coming at some point, but there are a lot of other fics I want to work on, so I'm leaving this here for the moment.**

 **My personal headcanon is that Past!Nikola did figure out what was going on with Helen, somehow, and BIGFOOT'S NOT DEAD. I stuck to show canon for the former and ignored it for the latter, haha. (Hey, they left it kinda up in the air, right?)**

 **Thanks for reading! :D**


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